The Return
by TheDarkSlayer
Summary: Ulquiorra takes Orihime and tries to get her out of Las Noches... But what happens when two familiar Espadas get in his way? More than anyone — Arrancar, Shinigami, or otherwise — could have expected!
1. The Mystery

Above the sandy plains of Hueco Mundo, a thin beam of energy shone, shooting out into the sky. Its point of origin was a gargantuan structure that dwarfed the quartz trees surrounding it like a skyscraper dwarfs ants — there was simply no similarity between the two. The beam's point of origin, more specifically a lone window of the vast castle of Las Noches —a barred window at that — held behind it a room with two occupants: Ulquiorra Schiffer, an Espada of Aizen (the former 5th Squad Captain of Soul Society), and Aizen's 'guest,' Inoue Orihime, who was currently yelling at him for firing his Cero.

"What are you doing?" she shrieked, quite astonished by Ulquiorra's random actions. After all, he had simply opened the door, closed it behind him, lifted his hand and blasted a Cero out the window. Ulquiorra, however, maintained his general apathy towards his task, speaking out loud,

"Blood-Thirst Stone. I should have expected those bars to be made of such a material." Ulquiorra turned towards the door and opened it, turning to Orihime and bluntly stating, "Come. We're leaving Las Noches. We may as well go while we're able."

Orihime simply stared, slack-jawed. _What is Ulquiorra doing? _she thought. Ulquiorra, however, was tired of waiting, and consequently strolled out, calling out behind him,

"Stay if you wish." Orihime snapped out of her reverie and chased after Ulquiorra, rightly remembering to close the door, seeing as this was — Is _that_ what this is? — an escape. She caught up to Ulquiorra just as they turned a corner and ran into Yami, the _Décimo_, or Tenth, Espada.

"Ulquiorra!" he grunted, "I was comin' to get you, Aizen's called a meeting... What are you doin' with _her?_"

Before Yami could blink again, he was chopped in the back of the neck by Ulquiorra following a short buzz, and with a second buzzing _Sonido_ step, Ulquiorra carried (the now unconscious) Yami to Orihime's room, shut him in, and returned to Orihime with a final _Sonido._ Ulquiorra walked past the now completely flabbergasted Orihime hands-in-pockets, maintaining his rigidly upright stance and cool gaze as he spoke,

"Follow me, woman, if you still wish to depart." Orihime turned, peering at the sable-haired figure, as if she's met a completely different man. _No, not a man... A Hollow... And yet..._

Orihime soon caught up to Ulquiorra and began questioning him,

"Ulquiorra, why are you doing this?" To this, the _Cuarto_ Espada had nothing to say. He simply kept walking. Orihime grabbed his left arm, trying to stop him, which he did. He turned and their eyes met. And she saw his face. His green, slit eyes juxtaposed the horned, ivory half-helmet that gleamed dully upon his head. Thin, blue tears streamed perpetually down his face. He turned back around, walking out of her grip, as he answered, ever in the same, cool tone:

"I don't know."

Inoue began to slowly follow him again, pondering the basis for his recent actions. They had been walking for a good, long 15 minutes in awkward silence before they reached a staircase. They ascended for a time until they reached the top, where Ulquiorra had to open a hatch to allow himself and Inoue through. Orihime looked outwards as Ulquiorra closed the hatch. They were at the top of one of the many randomly placed spires inside of Las Noches.

Ulquiorra walked forward, Orihime standing expectantly behind him as he raised his left hand to fire a Cero into the imitation sky of Las Noches. Before he could charge the attack, though, he was forced to lower his arm to deflect an immensely powerful sword strike that thrust a huge gust of wind past Ulquiorra and into Orihime. The girl was almost swept off her feet as she covered her face from the strong gale. Ulquiorra stared at his assailant as he questioned him,

"What are you doing, Grimmjow?" Grimmjow, who was hanging with his sword on Ulquiorra's arm, merely smirked and pushed off of the green-eyed Espada. To Ulquiorra's irritation, another voice sounded out that grated on his ears (though he showed no reaction thanks to his dedicated stoicism); the voice of Nnoitora, the fifth, _Quinto_ Espada, resounded,

"What are _you_ doing, Ulquiorra? Don't you think Aizen-sama would be a little pissed to find you running away with the woman, especially considering your rank, _Cuarto Espada?_" Those last few syllables were infused with true venom, and as Nnoitora walked with a giant smirk on his face, he dragged his enormous Zanpaktou along the ground, held upside down in his hand. The scraping reverberation also grated on Ulquiorra's ears, but he wouldn't show any emotion, least of all to Nnoitora. Ulquiorra, in turn, repaid the spite in full, albeit unemotionally.

"Did Aizen-sama send you to stop me? If that is the case, then I'm afraid to admit he's losing his touch." Nnoitora's grin was suddenly replaced by a scornful frown, but before he could rebuke, Grimmjow chose to speak up, taunting Ulquiorra as he sheathed his zanpaktou,

"You know, Ulquiorra, I thought you'd have some more self-restraint than that. Just what are you gonna do with the girl, _huh!?_ Like Nnoitora said, Aizen's gonna be pissed, and he's probably gonna have you punished anyway... But considerin' that girl's powers..." Grimmjow disappeared with a Sonido, reappearing behind Ulquiorra with his left hand pulled back, a crimson Cero charging in the palm, "...I'll just kill you once _myself!_"

Grimmjow thrust his hand forward, engulfing Ulquiorra in a scarlet light that exploded a split-second later, leaving behind a thick streak of smoke and a deafening shock-wave. The _Sexta_ Espada studied the smoke, looking for any signs of Ulquiorra. When the smoke cleared, Grimmjow's expectations were confirmed: Ulquiorra was unharmed — not even his defending arm was burnt, but for the sleeves of his shirt. Grimmjow spat, unimpressed by the result of his attack. Ulquiorra turned his head to Orihime, who was watching the battle intently.

"If there's a time to raise your shield, then it's now," said Ulquiorra, turning his head back to Grimmjow and Nnoitora as he drew his sword, "This may get out of hand."

The _Cuarto _Espada sped out of sight, charging towards his opponents...


	2. The Duel

Ulquiorra rushed towards Grimmjow with _Sonido_, right arm held across the waist, sword in hand. Grimmjow, who had yet to comprehend Ulquiorra's movements, instinctively drew his zanpaktou, catching Ulquiorra's sword strike with his own sword held upside down. Ulquiorra slid his sword across Grimmjow's, propelling him 20 feet back, sliding on his heels. Ulquiorra followed up with a small _Bara_ blast to Grimmjow's chest from his left hand's index and middle fingers, knocking Grimmjow over just as Nnoitora came down with his gargantuan zanpaktou onto Ulquiorra's head. Unfortunately for Nnoitora, Ulquiorra had stopped the dual-crescent blade with his arm — snugly holding the staff at the notch in between the two blades. Nnoitora scoffed, maddened by the fact he hadn't cleaved his opponent in half with the first attack.

"Don't toy with me, Ulquiorra!" Nnoitora lifted his zanpaktou up and brought it down in the exact same spot, but collided with the floor as Ulquiorra side-stepped to the right. Two steps forward and Ulquiorra slashed upwards with his zanpaktou, slicing at Nnoitora's chest, but only slightly cutting him; Nnoitora had been fast enough to see through the attack and side-stepped himself. With his free left hand, Nnoitora tried to punch Ulquiorra in the face only to miss as Ulquiorra pulled back to slash Nnoitora's extended arm off. He would have succeeded if not for the fact that Nnoitora disappeared with a _Sonido_ and reappeared fifteen feet away from him.

"Don't count me out just yet!" Grimmjow appeared to Ulquiorra's right, flaming blue sword raised above his head and headed straight for Ulquiorra's. The latter raised his sword to deflect one-handed, the blade bursting into green flames as soon as it connected with the other sword. The two Espadas exchanged a few extra sword blows, each one powerful enough to send _reiatsu_ and bursts of wind blazing past them. Orihime was standing about thirty feet away from them, her _Shun Shun Rikka_ shield raised in front of her. She watched as Nnoitora rushed towards Ulquiorra, swiping with his zanpaktou faster than Orihime thought was possible with that thin body. Ulquiorra managed to keep both of his opponents under control despite their combined movements. Orihime was quick to notice, however, a slow change in Ulquiorra's _reiatsu_. She gazed at the intense battle, thinking to herself:

_His reiatsu. . . . Since the first time I had felt it, it was like staring into a freezing cold abyss. . . But now. . . it's starting to become warmer — like Kurosaki-kun's. . . _She blinked at herself for the thought, but turned her attention back to the battle._ Ulquiorra. . . What has changed?_

Ulquiorra was now dueling at such a swift velocity, that every other strike went back and forth between his opponents — one parry to Grimmjow, then to Nnoitora and so forthuntil Ulquiorra turned to evade a downward swipe from Grimmjow's zanpaktou, and with his left hand, smacked Grimmjow across the face with the back side of his fist. The impact released pressurized air around Grimmjow's face and sent Grimmjow flying off the side of the tower, allowing Ulquiorra to focus all of his attention on the sadistic Espada who was swinging his whale of a zanpaktou straight at Ulquiorra's neck. To Nnoitora's chagrin, Ulquiorra had swooped down, the horn of his mask fragment lightly scraping against the blunt side of the zanpaktou's blade. Ulquiorra leaped over Nnoitora's head, spinning as to keep Nnoitora in his vision, deftly steering clear of Nnoitora's attempt to jab him with his zanpaktou. Ulquiorra finally faced Nnoitora's back and slashed down as he landed, shoving Nnoitora forward with the impetus of the attack. Blood splattered as Nnoitora stumbled forward, regaining his composure as he turned to Ulquiorra, whose blade dripped with the _Quinto's_ blood.

Nnoitora glared with murderous eyes at the consistently indifferent face of Ulquiorra. That face _infuriated_ Nnoitora. It was tolerable to a degree when Nnoitora had the opportunity to fling insults, but in the midst of this battle, it did nothing but antagonize him even more. Nnoitora ignored the pain in his back and swiped his zanpaktou over the ground, kicking up dust as he put himself into a ready position. Ulquiorra held his sword one-handed in front of him.

"You stood some infinitesimal chance against me with Grimmjow, but now that you're by yourself, you've lost any advantage you had, Nnoitora," Ulquiorra said succinctly. As if to contradict Ulquiorra's statement, a dull boom erupted from behind Nnoitora. Both fighters directed their attention upward as, a moment later, Grimmjow Jaguarjaques appeared, shooting high over the edge of the roof. His zanpaktou was partially sheathed and held inverted in his left hand. Slamming the blade down into its sheathe, Grimmjow cut the middle and index fingers of his right hand, flinging his hand upwards before bringing it straight down in front of him, a small trail of blood following the hand as his fingers arched and his palm aimed at Ulquiorra.

"I think you know exactly what this is, Ulquiorra!" Grimmjow called out, and he was right. Ulquiorra knew _exactly_ what it was. A large blue orb began to form in Grimmjow's hand, a rigid spiral shape emerging from the sphere. It was ready.

"_Gran Rey __**Cero!!!!**_"

The blue orb erupted as Grimmjow yelled, blasting towards its prey. Ulquiorra immediately used an Echoing Movement to intercept the _Cero_ midway and caught the energy wave with his zanpaktou. With a few seconds' effort, Ulquiorra pushed through the _Cero_, halving it and causing it to disintegrate behind him, but Ulquiorra didn't stop there. He rushed forward towards the near-defenseless Grimmjow, and slashed him diagonally across the chest. Blood flew outwards, and Grimmjow's new scar-to-be was incentive enough to draw his sword again, but this time, Grimmjow went completely berserk. He swung faster than he had ever before, and to add to the difficulty Nnoitora appeared behind Ulquiorra with his own Echoing Movement to begin his own assault.

Orihime had trouble keeping up! The clash of the zanpaktous sounded like machine-gun fire at the speed that these 3 Espadas were fighting. Ulquiorra was now using two hands to hold his sword, and managing to get sizable hits against both of his opponents while keeping himself unharmed. Orihime had to strain her eyes to see, and even then, all she saw were blurs and glints of light. The impacts of each fighter's blade sent shudders down Orihime's spine from the sheer amount of _reiatsu_ that was being pumped out in the fight. She concentrated on her _Shun Shun Rikka_ shield, making sure it wouldn't give way — the _reiatsu _was stifling and heavy enough as it was.

The mid-air fight continued, sword strikes rapid-firing every which way until Ulquiorra kicked Nnoitora's zanpaktou upwards. Nnoitora had been trying to cleave his opponent apart at the abdomen, but his zanpaktou's forward-bearing path went haywire and veered over Ulquiorra's right shoulder. Before Nnoitora could do anything else, he received a brutal kick to the gut that sent him flying 100 feet before gravity took hold and dragged him to the sand-covered floor of Las Noches. In the interim, Ulquiorra turned full force onto Grimmjow, unleashing his speed and deadly swordsmanship upon the _Sexta _Espada. Grimmjow tried his best to keep up with Ulquiorra's breakneck speed — alas, it was not to be. Ulquiorra quickly overpowered him, his sword seemingly everywhere at once. For every strike Grimmjow managed to deflect, there was at least one more to compensate for it. All the while, Ulquiorra's expression was like that of a statue: cold and motionless. Finally, Ulquiorra slammed his zanpaktou down on Grimmjow's with enough force to drive him back down, plummeting to the roof where the battle started. Ulquiorra glided down in front of him, some ten feet away.

"I find it very strange that the two of you would come here," Ulquiorra stated observantly, walking closer to his opponent, "Did you really believe that your combined might would be able to defeat me? Even if the two of you released your zanpaktous, I would still be able to easily vanquish you with my own _Resurrección_. I'm _not_ going to let you stop me from taking Inoue Orihime away from Las Noches. _That_ is my mission... And you're not going to get in my way." Orihime's heart skipped a beat when she heard those words. She also detected a different tone when he said them. . . _Ulquiorra. . . W-why?_

The next moment, Nnoitora leapt above the lip of the roof and landed, walking calmly towards Ulquiorra — somewhat _too_ calmly, Ulquiorra noted. Then Grimmjow replied,

"We're not going to get in your way? Is _that_ what you think, Ulquiorra? Are you that _stupid!!?!?_ You're not going _ANYWHERE, _Ulquiorra!!!" Quietly, Ulquiorra spoke back,

"Yes, I am. . . " A buzz sounded, announcing Ulquiorra's disappearance and upcoming assault. Grimmjow pulled something from under his coat using his left hand, and thrust it outwards to where Ulquiorra's sword was headed. Ulquiorra's zanpaktou collided with a small purple orb that was in Grimmjow's palm. A grin lit up on Grimmjow's face, and Ulquiorra was surprised to see the orb dissolve into purple mist and explode, tossing and spinning him violently through the air. Ulquiorra fell to the ground on his stomach, his zanpaktou being covered in the liquid-like purple mist. Ulquiorra stood briskly, trying to swipe off the mist engulfing his sword, but to no avail. The mist conformed to the sword's shaped, pulsed brightly and then faded away. Ulquiorra turned his eyes from his zanpaktou to Grimmjow, who was grinning his signature cocky grin.

"_Esfera Negación. _It's a little something Aizen cooked up," the _Sexta _explained.

"Aizen?!" Ulquiorra uttered with disbelief. Grimmjow grinned and nodded sinisterly,

"That's right, Ulquiorra. Aizen was expecting you to come up with something like this. Heh, Aizen 'expects' everything. That _Esfera Negación_. . . That just locked up your zanpaktou. Say goodbye to your _Resurrección_, Ulquiorra!"

Ulquiorra was shocked, though the only indicator was his widened eyes. He raised his zanpaktou and tried to draw power from it. What he got was nothing. He couldn't siphon any _reiatsu_ from it. Ulquiorra looked to his two opponents, Grimmjow and Nnoitora, as the former put his sword hand across his torso while placing his left hand over the blade of the zanpaktou; the latter lifted his crescent-blade over his head, as the two spoke, one after the other. . .

"Grind! —"

"Pray! — "


	3. The Struggle

"Grind! —"

"Pray! —"

"_**Pantera!!!**_"

"_**Santa Teresa!!!**_"

The air around the _Quinto_ and _Sexta_ Espadas burst, thickening and surrounding the two fighters as their zanpaktous were unsealed. Orihime watched the two releasing Espadas, who stood before her like the first and third basemen of a baseball game, with Ulquiorra dead ahead of her, facing in her direction from 'second base'. The dense air around the two fighters began to disperse, and Ulquiorra caught his first glimpse of his subordinate Espadas' _Resurreccións._ Grimmjow's _Pantera_ had transformed him into a feline beast, his skin covered in armor; hands turned to claws, feet to paws, teeth to fangs — his arms and legs (his legs now like those of a cat's) had blades on them; his hair had also grown several times longer and a tail was hanging out of his back — visible through the Hollow hole in his stomach.

Nnoitora's _Santa Teresa_ was even more ferocious! The eye patch that covered his left eye was gone, replaced by the fang-shaped (but eyepatch-like) remnants of his former mask, which surrounded the Hollow hole that carved through his skull. His head was crowned with horns stemming from his temples that took the shape of a tilted crescent moon. Bones rising from his waist flanked his abdomen, and he had become considerably more muscular, but perhaps the most eye-catching features were the four clawed skeletal arms that each carried an enormous ebony scythe.

Ulquiorra felt the weight of the two Espadas' combined _reiatsu_ crash down upon his shoulders, pressing him down. The weight was considerable, but manageable. He looked past the two Espadas at Orihime, who was trembling under the proximity of the immense power of the Fifth and Sixth Espadas. Ulquiorra grasped the hilt of his zanpaktou with two hands, readying himself for the two fighters to attack.

"Attack. . . " Ulquiorra released his own _reiatsu _to spill across the arena, surrounding him in a whirlwind of green. The two Espadas kindly obliged, charging him, screaming at the top of their lungs. Grimmjow reached him first, leaping into the air and somersaulting once before landing onto Ulquiorra with his extended leg. The attack pushed down on Ulquiorra's zanpaktou with colossal force, distracting him and preventing him from seeing Nnoitora's kick to his chin. Ulquiorra was sent upwards, darting away from the two Espadas standing on the tower's roof. Nnoitora appeared in front of Ulquiorra, stabbing with all four scythes into one point, but missing as Ulquiorra stepped back with _Sonido_ only to run into Grimmjow, who slammed Ulquiorra's head down with his right fist, flinging him into the sandy ground below.

Ulquiorra flipped dozens of times through the air before stomping down onto the sand with his feet. He snapped his head upwards to see Nnoitora spinning towards him, 4 scythes held to spin like two opposing rotor blades of a helicopter. Ulquiorra swung his sword upwards to counterattack, colliding with two of Nnoitora's scythes, followed by the other pair of scythes. The scythes dug into the flat side of Ulquiorra's zanpaktou and began to crack it. Ulquiorra let his sword drop, and in doing so, caused Nnoitora's scythes to fly down into the sand. Grimmjow appeared at Ulquiorra's right flank, right elbow blade aimed at his face then deflected by Ulquiorra's zanpaktou. Grimmjow wailed on Ulquiorra with every limb of his body, Nnoitora strolling forward behind the _Sexta_. Ulquiorra deflected Grimmjow's attack, but with nowhere near as much ease as he did before. Nnoitora materialized beside Grimmjow with _Sonido_ and swiped mercilessly with his quartet of scythes, further impairing Ulquiorra's ability to defend himself.

The _Cuarto_ Espada was being pushed back on his heels, taking a cut every few seconds or so from either Grimmjow's claws or Nnoitora's scythes. Ulquiorra disappeared, using _Sonido_ to amplify his attack speed, reappearing every other moment to land a hit, but the other Espadas followed. Orihime walked to the edge of the scarlet tower, watching as Ulquiorra, Grimmjow, and Nnoitora ceaselessly disappeared and reappeared with _Sonido _all across the sand-ridden floor of Las Noches, their onslaughts causing the sand to erupt over the entirety of the fighters' arena. Nnoitora finally managed to break through Ulquiorra's guard, slashing him with a scythe across the chest, grinning all the while as the _Cuarto_ was flung into the air. Grimmjow appeared next to Ulquiorra and landed a punch that sent him flying through another crimson spire and crashing into the ground. The red spire crumbled, toppling to the ground in pieces. Grimmjow hovered, looking down intently upon the carnage he had wreaked. The dust cloud below suddenly opened up, clearing the path for an emerald-green _Cero_ to blast forward at him. Grimmjow blocked with his right arm and swiped the _Cero_ away, revealing Ulquiorra, who was racing towards him with his zanpaktou at the ready. Ulquiorra took the swing, but met twin scythes that intercepted his sword. Nnoitora twisted around, and stabbed the bottom ends of the remaining two scythes into Ulquiorra's gut, making him double over for a split second before being kicked upwards, ever closer to Las Noches's ceiling. Grimmjow sped in, catching Ulquiorra by the throat with his right hand and squeezing. Ulquiorra swung at Grimmjow neck only to clash with Grimmjow's upraised forearm, which pushed the zanpaktou away and thrust itself forward into Ulquiorra's face. The blow sent jets of pressurized air shooting away from the area of the impact one after another as Grimmjow constantly blocked Ulquiorra's zanpaktou and landed punches to his face.

Nnoitora scoffed as he watched the _Sexta_ pummel the _Cuarto_, and yelled to Grimmjow out of vexation,

"Oi, Grimmjow! Don't you kill him just yet. I'm not done!" Grimmjow grinned, dragging Ulquiorra and hurling him to Nnoitora, roaring,

"_**Take him!!**_" Ulquiorra, face bloodied by Grimmjow's punches, found himself plummeting towards Nnoitora, who readied his scythes for slaughter. Ulquiorra raised his sword, and aimed the point forward, turning himself into a lethal missile. Nnoitora stabbed all four of his scythes in an X-shaped fashion into Ulquiorra, stopping his descent by impaling him — through the stomach — upon the blades. Orihime gasped, turning away from the gore of the scene, then turning back slowly to see that Ulquiorra had also stabbed Nnoitora dead-center through the chest, Ulquiorra's zanpaktou dripping with blood behind Nnoitora. The fourth and fifth Espadas' faces were no more than an inch away from each other, and Ulquiorra, glaring into Nnoitora's eyes, taunted him,

"It seems all your boasting is for nothing — your _Hierro_ is as frail as a _Fracción's._" Nnoitora's eyes narrowed in annoyance as he tore the scythes out of his target before groaning,

"So God-damn _**annoying!**_" and completing that comment with a head-butt into Ulquiorra's forehead that carried enough force to propel the _Arrancar_ and his zanpaktou yards away from Nnoitora. Ulquiorra pulled himself together, blood flowing from his abdomen as pain surged through the multitude of nerves that resided there. Ulquiorra breathed deeply, doing his best to seem unfazed by the ferocious beating he had just endured. Grimmjow floated down to the ground next to Nnoitora, watching, almost pityingly, as Ulquiorra raised his sword in front of him. Grimmjow's face changed from near pity to irked confusion,

"Why, Ulquiorra? Just what the hell are you fighting for?"

"You've no need to know," Ulquiorra replied, swallowing down the blood that had gathered in his mouth. Grimmjow fumed, aggravated by Ulquiorra's pertinacious withholding of information,

"Argh! All you ever manage to do is **piss me off!**" Grimmjow appeared to Ulquiorra's right with a kick to the side of his head. The resulting impact sent Ulquiorra flying high above and past Orihime, finally crashing down on the roof of the tower. Ulquiorra, still bringing himself up from his prone state, was alerted to the presence of the two Espadas in front of him by the duo of Echoing Movements he heard. Nnoitora was the one to speak this time,

"You know, Ulquiorra," stated the _Quinto_ matter-of-factly as he walked towards Ulquiorra, "Aizen doesn't really care about this girl. She's all part of some larger plan. Or so he told us before he sent us to beat the living crap out of you," Nnoitora was now kneeling besides Ulquiorra, "To be honest, if that woman works as the distraction she's meant to be, she'll be worth nothing. And just so you know," Nnoitora now toned down his voice, "Three of her friends are already here. Aizen showed us at the meeting you so conveniently chose to miss. Chances are the Shinigami know, and they'll be on their way, all according to Aizen-sama's _graaaand_ plan." Grimmjow was standing back, arms crossed as he watched the _Quinto _Espada stand and walk past the _Cuarto_. Nnoitora stabbed the base of the scythes into the roof as he yelled to Orihime,

"Hey, woman! Time to die!" The _Quinto_ stuck out his marked tongue, spreading his arms out as a golden _Cero_ manifested at the tongue's tip. Ulquiorra panicked. _**NO!**_

The golden _Cero_ erupted, blasting forward to Orihime, who was defenseless in the face of such monstrous power. Orihime was frozen, stricken with fear. _Kurosaki-kun! . . ._

However, it wasn't Ichigo who intercepted the blast, but Ulquiorra. The _Cero _shook as it tried to engulf both Ulquiorra and Orihime, but Ulquiorra wouldn't let it, pushing against it with two hands held on his upturned zanpaktou — one at the hilt, the other at the blade. The edges of the _Cero_ started to seep past Ulquiorra's guard, searing his arms. The _Cero _pushed unremittingly, and Ulquiorra's defense was failing. The _Cero_ inevitably engulfed Ulquiorra and exploded, shaking the entirety of the tower they were on. As the smoke cleared, Nnoitora was irritated to see his murder attempt had failed. Ulquiorra still stood, more battered than ever, with scorch marks and innumerable cuts across his body to show for it. The entire front of his shirt had been burnt away, revealing both the rank imprinted on his chest and the Hollow hole beneath his neck. Nnoitora yelled at the _Cuarto _Espada,

"Now why the hell did you—"

"_**BECAUSE I LOVE HER!!**_"

Nnoitora was struck silent, and Grimmjow's eyes widened in disbelief at Ulquiorra's sudden outburst. Orihime was simply flabbergasted! Her jaw had already gone slack. The fact that he had yelled such a thing out to his enemies without any thought to his own humiliation had only served to astonish her even more. At that point, a sharp pain tore at Ulquiorra's insides, specifically on the interior of the hole which ran through his chest. Ulquiorra grasped at the outside of the hole, willing the pain to stop, but it only increased. Emerald-greeen _reiatsu _spilled wildly from his body as he began to yell from the torturous pain that ran through him. The mask fragment on his head glowed with a white light that began to increase in intensity. The zanpaktou in his right hand glowed purple, seemingly fighting against the seal that was placed upon it. Ulquiorra began to float upwards, screaming as he rose, the zanpaktou falling out of his hand and clattering on the floor. Ulquiorra's back arched as his eyes turned from slits to regular pupils. The tears that lined his cheeks faded away, and the gray tint of his _Hierro_ started to bleed like paint, revealing normal human skin. The gray shrunk all around the Hollow hole until it finally reached its edges, at which point the hole collapsed in on itself and vanished. The flow of _reiatsu _immediately ceased, and Ulquiorra fell to the ground on his knees, clutching his chest as he panted. The mask fragment that was on his head no longer glowed, but was covered in cracks, and fell apart, piece by tiny piece until there was no mask left to speak of.

The _Cuarto Espada_ was no more. Ulquiorra Schiffer's heart had returned.


	4. The Resolution

A gasp resonated as Ulquiorra drew his head, arching his back as he drew in a lungful of breath before choking and coughing, forcing him back to his kneeling position. Nnoitora and Grimmjow were inarguably and unequivocally flabbergasted. Ulquiorra was _a_ _human?_ His mask was gone; the _Hierro _which had drained all color of his skin was gone, releasing a pinkish hue to appear on his skin; and the Hollow hole that marked his presence in the echelons of the Espada. . . was now _gone. _The only things that had remained were the green hues of his now-human eyes and the sable number '4' on his breast. Seeing his sword on the ground as he bled, he reached with his right hand for the hilt, and as he seized it, a deep violet outline pulsed outwards, fading away. Ulquiorra felt a surge of energy rush through him, refreshing him and slowing the flow of blood from his wounds. Ulquiorra stood upright, resuming his previously rigid, upright stance as he opened his eyes to gaze coolly at his enemies. Sword held firmly in his right hand, Ulquiorra felt his opposing hand tingle with a familiar, yet strangely new energy. Behind him, Orihime uttered quietly,

"U-Ulquiorra?" The former Espada turned his gaze to the maiden behind him, and, to Orihime's incredulity, let a small smile form on his lips. He explained himself,

"Well. . . Now you know my reasoning behind all this. Just wait. I'll free you from here." Orihime stared, noting Ulquiorra's soft tone, rather unlike the apathetic person whom she had known moments ago. The ex-Espada turned his gaze back to his opponents, who were shaking off the shock of the preceding moments' events. Nnoitora began to cackle as he realized the implications of what had transpired,

"Grimmjow! Ha-ha-haaaa!!! Can you believe it??? It's preposterous! **Hah!** He's turned into a good-for-nothin' _**HUMAN!**_" Grimmjow was less amused by the fact than he was worried — Ulquiorra had simply stood back up, none the worse for wear. Nnoitora, in the meantime, was laughing it up to the brink of mania. He just _couldn't believe it!_ Ulquiorra consequently unleashed his power, letting it seep across the battleground in rhythmic waves. Nnoitora immediately stopped laughing and frowned,

"Is it your Goddamn purpose to contradict me at every turn!?!? I'm sick of your crap! Grimmjow, I'm ending this, with or without you! I've toyed with him enough!" With a cry, Nnoitora shot two arms out from the sides of his body, totaling to six arms. Exposing the bottom of his wrists, the _Quinto_ Espada, from each of the new arms, shot out two black shafts that flicked out two extra scythe blades, completing the full set of cutting blades. Grimmjow curled his fingers, arms thrust out in front of him, claws glowing blue as they surged with energy and shot beams of energy behind him. The beams were shaped like elongated versions of the claws that spawned them, and Grimmjow proudly announced the name of this technique,

"_Desgarrón!_ This is my ultimate technique, Ulquiorra. . . I'm gonna shred you to pieces." Both Nnoitora and Grimmjow charged Ulquiorra, dragging their weapons with them. Ulquiorra watched the duo, and to him, they seemed to be moving somewhat slowly. It was then that Ulquiorra noticed the same sensation that engulfed his left hand flow over his face. _I understand now. . . _Fully confident of his actions, Ulquiorra brought his left hand to rest in front of his face as his opponents drew ever closer. Grimmjow flinched, taking notice of his opponent's familiar stance. . . _He couldn't possibly. . !? _Just as Nnoitora and Grimmjow came within striking range, Ulquiorra flung his hand down to bring about the darkest shroud of green accompanied by a resounding _Sonido_. Both fighters gaped as their target disappeared from their view, but their surprise only increased exponentially as Grimmjow burst out in a spray of blood as his ultimate technique was shattered apart behind him. Nnoitora wasn't spared either as he noticed that he lost feeling in his arms — all six of them, in fact, as they had been severed at the biceps. Grimmjow fell to the ground almost completely limp — he had been cut vertically across the chest and abdomen, and _Desgarrón _had been smashed to bits. Nnoitora stopped himself from falling as he roared in a bloodthirsty mix of anger, agony, and shame. As the two turned to view their attacker, they noticed the unmissable alterations that lay before them: two horns, stemming from a pearl-white helm that was ribbed across the wearer's neck. Ulquiorra turned, revealing the Hollow mask that now veiled his face. The quintessential skeletal teeth were plainly visible as they supplemented the almost dramatic upturned eyes of the mask which seemed to be in a constant state of weeping. To add to that effect, thick, green tears spanned from the bottom of the mask's eyes, across the teeth, and thinning as they traveled down to the chin. Quite simply, it seemed that the old remnants of Ulquiorra's helm had been added to so as to form this new mask. Ulquiorra's eyes were now blackened, and his irises had become a dim gold.

Grimmjow was gawking at a sight too familiar as he recalled his last battle with a certain stubborn shinigami. . . _Goddamn it, Ulquiorra! What the hell are you bastards doing to yourselves??_ Grimmjow brought himself up as he tried to focus his _reiryoku _into his chest wound, attempting to seal the deep gash. Nnoitora growled, focusing his own _reiryoku_ to dissolve his severed arms and scythes. The golden mist that was Nnoitora's amputated limbs flowed into his body through the sliced appendages still remaining. Orihime, in the meantime, was peering into Ulquiorra's eyes, trying to find some sliver of the humanity she had just seen before. All she could see were the dark, golden eyes staring back at her from under that ghastly mask, and they did nothing but frighten her. Nnoitora was now focused enough to shoot out all six of his arms out at once with a satisfied chuckle of a breath. Flexing his arms and hands, Nnoitora returned his one-eyed gaze to Ulquiorra's altered visage. Thrusting the sextet of arms out in front of him, fingers curled, he began forming a Sun-hued sphere of energy that almost seemed to be creating its own gravitational field, as everything in its vicinity was drawn to it. Wind was starting to pick up around it, and Ulquiorra felt air whoosh past him and make his clothing flail wildly as he watched Nnoitora gather sufficient energy for his attack. The dense sphere was pushed forward by the six black scythe handles that shot out of Nnoitora's wrists, and as Nnoitora flung out all six arms outwards — flicking out the blade of each scythe in the process — he howled,

"_**GRAN REY CERO!!!!!!!" **_

The dwarf of a Sun erupted in a vaguely conical explosion, careening towards Ulquiorra, who remained unconcerned by his former subordinate's display of power. He struck down with his katana, slicing the _Gran Rey Cero_ as it flowed past, cleaving it into two halves that disintegrated the ground around Ulquiorra, but left him unharmed. The ground on which Ulquiorra stood shook below him as Nnoitora swept through the smoke with his hexad of reaping knives. The two collided, releasing a spherical blast of air that crumbled the ground below them, sending a considerable piece of the tower sliding down the diagonal slope as the fighters met with their blades. Grimmjow, watching from below, had nearly staunched the flow of blood from his deep torso wound, and leapt into the air after Nnoitora and Ulquiorra, summoning _Desgarrón_ as he flew. Nnoitora and Ulquiorra had been matching each other, but it was apparent that Ulquiorra wasn't putting much effort into his offensive. He blocked every one of Nnoitora's nearly imperceptible strikes with ease, and Grimmjow's appearance with _Desgarrón_ hadn't done much to hinder that ability. Sending all ten of the azure blades to descend upon Ulquiorra, Grimmjow sped behind him, hoping to divide his attention. Ulquiorra lifted his free hand and fired two barrages of five _Bara_ blasts — one from each finger — that each tore through the lacerating claws. Grimmjow scratched at Ulquiorra, but met Ulquiorra's blade instead of his back. Nnoitora still attacked, and Ulquiorra was still able to intercept the scythes with his own zanpaktou, despite the distractions. Nnoitora was increasing his speed, enraged with each strike parried, until he was finally bashed away with a flat palm to the chest, skidding backwards through the air. Grimmjow was caught off-guard and was quickly sent flying with a kick to the gut. Ulquiorra then used a _Sonido_ to ambush Nnoitora from behind and kick him with even greater force to collide into Grimmjow and send them both sprawling into the sand.

Ulquiorra vanished with a buzz yet again, this time appearing before Orihime while simultaneously sheathing his sword. Ulquiorra raised his arm into the air, pointing a finger at the dummy sky. A green light kindled at its tip, and a thin beam of energy shone, shooting out into the sky, through it, and out into the dark night of _Hueco Mundo_.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Elsewhere, a certain group riding atop a strange serpent-like creature took notice of the immense _reiatsu_ that had appeared concurrently with a beam rising from Las Noches. Kurosaki Ichigo stood from his seat on Bawa-bawa, gazing towards the vast castle that lay ahead of them. He suddenly felt three familiar _reiatsu_, along with a fourth that was new to him. But only one interested him the most — the faintest of the four, and the most familiar — Inoue Orihime's. Rukia stood behind him, questioning him,

"Ichigo, do you feel that?" She had felt Orihime's _reiatsu_ just as he did, but was also unsettled by the colossal _reiatsu_ that crashed upon them. Ichigo grabbed hold of Zangetsu, leaping into the air and drawing the cleaver, freeing it from its wrappings. Rising higher into the air, Ichigo was engulfed in crimson darkness as he called out,

"**Bankai!**" As he landed, Ichigo swept outwards with Tensa Zangetsu, sweeping away the remnant energy as he charged forth with _Shunpo_. His friends called after him, bidding him to wait, but they were far too late. They all scrambled: Rukia taking Nel in her arms as she sped away; Ishida taking Chad and Pesche as he disappeared with _Hirenkyaku_; Renji taking Dondochakka after the latter returned Bawa-bawa to the confines of his stomach. Ichigo raced across the sands of _Hueco Mundo_ with multiple Flash Steps, looking only to the now-dissipating _Cero _beam. The sand in front of Ichigo rose, birthing the guardian of Las Noches: Lunaganga. Remembering Lunaganga's regenerative abilities, Ichigo stopped in his tracks, yelling to the behemoth,

"I don't have time for this!!" Ichigo lifted Tensa Zangetsu over his head and swung it down, yelling "Getsuga Tenshou!" as he released an arc-wave large enough to engulf Lunuganga's head. The attack connected, melting the sand into glass, causing Lunaganga to topple back to the ground, scattering sand everywhere. Ichigo charged through to the other side and resumed his trail towards Las Noches, his friends not far behind.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Having blasted a hole in Las Noches ceiling, Ulquiorra took hold of Orihime and took off, Orihime's _Shun Shun Rikka_ spirits returning to her hairpins as she rose. Ulquiorra and Orihime cleared the dome and landed some distance away from the opening, as Nnoitora and then Grimmjow flew out soon after. Glancing down at Ulquiorra, they saw that he was charging an attack in his outstretched hand, and the green orb of energy was growing in size, swirling like a hurricane. Nnoitora and Grimmjow charged the former _Cuarto_, Nnoitora screaming, "Ulquiorra!!!" Behind his mask, Ulquiorra's eyes narrowed, and he spoke the three deadly words that would finally end this:

"_**Gran Rey Cero.**_"

A deafening sound engulfed those present, and Nnoitora was swallowed up by the gargantuan discharge of _reiryoku_, taking the brunt of the attack while Grimmjow was spared the worst. Nevertheless, when the all-encompassing _Gran Rey Cero_ receded, both Espadas fell to the ground in burnt heaps. Grimmjow was fried, but Nnoitora's scythes had been reduced to almost nothing, and the edges of Nnoitora's body had even been disintegrated at some points. This was not at all surprising, seeing as the _Cero_ had been almost as large as Las Noches itself. Ulquiorra, lowering his right hand, quickly and instinctively swiped the hand across his face, dispelling the mask with a flash of dark green. Behind him, a voice called out softly amongst the low ring that was the _Santen Kesshun_ shield being dispersed,

"Ulquiorra?" The addressed one turned, seeing the woman he had regarded so coldly filled with concern in her eyes, "are you all right?" Ulquiorra was frankly surprised. He hadn't expected her to seem so worried about him. He, who had brought her to this place. _Well now I'll bring her back._ He walked up to the girl, feeling something different as he approached. _Contentment? Is that it?_

"You're hurt. You're still bleeding. . ." Ulquiorra looked down at himself, noticing the cuts that lined his body. The small ones had closed up, but the larger ones still had some blood flowing from them. To his right, Ulquiorra noticed a dark blur shoot over the edge of Las Noches's dome, and before he knew it, that blur had appeared before him, holding a blade as dark as the surrounding night before his throat.

"Get away from her. . . Ulquiorra!"


	5. The Alteration

Thank you very much, EVERYONE, for your reviews! I am very glad to see the reception this story has received, and it was beyond what I was expecting! Your reviews are very much appreciated, and I would like a lot more feedback, be it bad or good. Anyway, I suppose a disclaimer is in order.

I don't own Bleach, I only make fanfiction out of it.

Without further adieu, Chapter 5!

* * *

"Back off, Ulquiorra," Ichigo demanded.

"You know my name? Though I don't recall having told it to you before," Ulquiorra coolly responded. Ichigo's blade was still at Ulquiorra's throat, and Ichigo enunciated,

"Get _back_, Ulquiorra,"

"Kurosaki-kun," Orihime pleaded, "Don't hurt him! He helped me. . ." Ichigo blinked as his jaw slackened and he turned to Orihime,

"He did? So I guess that was your Cero a moment ago, wasn't it?" Ichigo turned to Ulquiorra, who calmly nodded with a terse "yes". Ichigo slowly lowered his sword, still wary of the Espada, but he nonetheless brought to light something that had bothered him since first arriving at the spot,

"You've changed, Ulquiorra. Your mask is gone, your skin's normal, and," Ichigo glanced down to Ulquiorra's chest, slightly obscured by a few scraps of cloth that stemmed from Ulquiorra's left side, but the sight caused Ichigo to gape, "your Hollow hole is gone!" Ulquiorra nodded with eyes closed, opening them as he answered, "I _have_ undergone some changes," and he glanced at Orihime, but was distracted by a new arrival in the form of Kuchiki Rukia along with Nel.

"Ichigo! Where's — You??" Rukia put Nel on her feet and put her hand on her zanpaktou, wary of the familiar man before her. Nel hid behind Rukia as Orihime panicked and tried to prevent her friend from mistaking friend for foe,

"No, Kuchiki-san! He's my friend. . . He's the one who helped me," she said, smiling as she turned her gaze to Ulquiorra, who in turn, let a small smile form on his own lips. Two noises alerted the group to Ishida and the rest. Sado flinched, realizing the identity of the man before them and summoning the armor for his right arm,

"Ichigo! That's—"

"I know, Chad. He was there. . . when you got hurt. . . But if Inoue says he can be trusted, then I'll trust him." Ulquiorra chose this moment to speak up,

"I'm fairly sure you came here to take Inoue Orihime back to the real world. I'll open a path." Ulquiorra walked past Orihime and tapped his finger on air. An unusual tearing sound accompanied the shredding of the boundaries between realms that is the Garganta. Through the portal could be seen the blue skies of the real world, and below it, Karakura Town. Ulquiorra turned back to the group, speaking more to Orihime than to the rest,

"As promised. . . I've freed you. Go on home." He raised an arm to beckon them through, and the group started to approach the portal. Orihime was the closest to the gate, and she turned to Ulquiorra, bowing low as she spoke quietly,

"Thank you very much! Ulquiorra. . . _Thank you._" Ulquiorra was stunned by Orihime's sudden expression of gratitude, and, unsure of what to do, turned his gaze downwards in embarrassment. Nonetheless, he returned the gesture, almost murmuring,

"You're welcome. . ." Orihime turned to her friends, and they began to depart. Ichigo, blade on his shoulder, remembered that Nel and her 'brothers' were here, and turned to Nel to ask,

"Hey, Nel. . . Are you gonna come with us? To the real world?"

"Itsygo, do you really have to go??" panicked the short Arrancar. Ichigo nodded with a sympathetic "Yeah". Nel resolutely told him,

"Then I'm comin' with!" Pesche exclaimed to Dondochakka,

"Aaah, Dondochakka! Looks like we're takin' our first trip to the real world!"

"It's gonna be real interesting, don'tcha know!" The two Arrancar followed the group across the void between worlds. Orihime turned as the group entered the real world, and asked Ulquiorra,

"Aren't you coming?" Before he could open his mouth to answer, Ichigo yelled,

"Ulquiorra, behind you!" Ulquiorra turned and found a blade piercing through the tattered remains of his clothing and into his chest, tremendously close to his heart. Two more followed it, falling from the sky in rapid succession. The dark blur that was Ichigo appeared in front of him to strike away with unbelievable speed the maelstrom of blades that were raining down upon them. Ulquiorra toppled, and the Garganta became unstable, shifting constantly. As the Garganta finally closed, Ichigo could hear Orihime call out,

"Kurosaki-kun!" and the portal snapped shut with a high-pitched whine. Ulquiorra felt a pang as he realized it wasn't his name Orihime had called. . . Ichigo, in the meantime, swung his sword in every direction at once, just like he had against Kuchiki Byakuya, until the blade-rain ceased and Ichigo could see his opponent. Ichigo quickly recognized him as one of the captains on Soukyoku Hill, and the captain who had saved him from his first battle with Grimmjow: Tousen Kaname. The blind captain appeared on the floor with a quick demonstration of Shunpo-assisted speed. Ichigo raised his sword in front of him, but heard Ulquiorra's coughs behind him. _Damn! Looks like I can't just sit here and fight this guy — I have to help Ulquiorra. . . _Grabbing Ulquiorra by the waist, Ichigo turned left and blurred himself out with Shunpo, dashing away. Tousen followed promptly, sword sheathed and held in his left hand, dreadlocks fluttering behind him. Ichigo glanced behind him to see Tousen ever so slowly advancing on him with each individual Flash Step. _Damn it!_ Ichigo upped his pace, Tousen beginning to struggle to keep up. Ichigo stopped, waiting for Tousen to come close enough. Ulquiorra still in his arm, Ichigo swung out with Tensa Zangetsu —

"Getsuga _Tenshou!!!_" The captain was caught off guard by the sudden surge of focused energy and consequently blocked with the sword's scabbard, the zanpaktou itself still sheathed. Ichigo took the opportunity to summon his mask (his sword still in his hand) and dart away with more speed than he had ever displayed using Shunpo. Tousen, with both hands on his zanpaktou and the Getsuga arc-wave still pushing him back, let reiryoku surge through his hands as he intoned,

"Bakudo Number Eighty-One: Danku."

The Splitting Void blasted open in a wall of translucent energy that repelled Ichigo's Getsuga into nothing more than crimson-black wisps of mist. Tousen lost sight of his prey, but followed the immense reiatsu that was leaving his vicinity as he disintegrated his kido spell.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ichigo was rushing across the sands of Hueco Mundo with Ulquiorra still in his arm, out cold. That is, until he began to stir in Ichigo's arm. Ichigo glanced at him through his mask as he continuously swooped across the empty land of the Hollow World. In his warped voice, Ichigo asked, obviously in just a _tad_ bit of a rush,

"You wouldn't happen to know of a place to hide around here, would ya? Hey, Ulquiorra! You with me here?" Ulquiorra's head was bobbing up and down slightly as he tried to look up at the source of that strange voice. He was intrigued to see the scarlet-striped mask molded to Ichigo's face, and shared his thoughts,

"That mask—"

"Is not important right now," Ichigo cut in, "We need a place to hide — we got Tousen on our tails." Ulquiorra composed himself — he was, after all, brutally injured, even if he did put on a masque of cold strength. He thought for a moment, eyes closed, until he asked Ichigo,

"How long have we been traveling at this speed?" Ichigo glanced behind him, and took a moment to think,

"About two to three minutes now. I can't even see Las Noches anymore." Ulquiorra calculated distances and speed, making an estimate as to the closest possible hiding spot,

"Head to your northwest; there's an abandoned Hollow nest about 5 miles out." Ichigo was succinct,

"Got it," and veered to his northwest as dictated, increasing his speed even more as he swerved.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Garganta closed, and Orihime yelled out his name as he disappeared from sight:

"Kurosaki-kun!" The squealing whine of the Garganta was all that was left as Orihime turned to Rukia and declared,

"We have to go after them, Kuchiki-san! They're in danger!" Rukia nodded quickly and turned to her companion,

"Renji! We're going to Urahara's!" Renji nodded in understanding and grabbed Dondochakka as he zipped away with Shunpo. Ishida grabbed Chad and Pesche, the latter complaining loudly about he hated moving at such high speeds. Rukia picked up Nel and took Orihime's arm as she herself dashed towards Urahara's shop.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ichigo finally saw a large rock structure. More likely than not, it was made of the same quartz crystals that the trees of Hueco Mundo were made of. The structure itself was vaguely shaped like a horseshoe facing towards the two travelers.

"Hey Ulquiorra, is that it?" Ulquiorra woke from his brisk slumber and looked ahead.

"Yes. We're here." Ulquiorra coughed blood upon finishing that statement, catching Ichigo's attention,

"Hey, you hang in there. I didn't just save you to have you die."

"I'm fine."

"Yeah, you sure as hell look it with all those wounds. Let's go in here." Ichigo leapt from the sands as he ceased his Shunpo and landed on the lip of a small quartz-like outcrop leading to a cave, all on the left side of the horseshoe. Ichigo went in, Ulquiorra still in his arm, feet dragging along the ground as Ichigo dispersed his Hollow mask. Ichigo walked in far enough for there to be enough distance between them and the opening so as to not be seen. He set Ulquiorra down against the cave wall, the three blades still jutting out from his chest, bloodied, as Ichigo had held Ulquiorra by the abdomen and blood subsequently seeped down across the edged surfaces. Ichigo observed Ulquiorra's erratic breathing and quietly stated,

"We're gonna have to get those things out of you, but you're gonna have to compress your reiatsu_ now_. I can do well enough to hide from Tousen, I think, thanks to my Bankai, but you're gonna have to compress yours yourself. Can you do that?" Ulquiorra nodded, comprehending completely.

"As soon as I get those out of you, we're gonna have the problem of you possibly bleeding to death. . . Can you suppress your reiatsu well enough with your zanpaktou released? That might help with stopping the wounds." Ulquiorra chuckled, causing him to cough fiercely, blood slightly spilling from his mouth,

"I can't release my zanpaktou."

"What??"

"It's true. It was sealed off completely, for a time. My power doesn't reside solely in my zanpaktou anymore." Ichigo stared at the green-eyed man. Ulquiorra raised his arm to show Ichigo the back of his hand,

"It resides in this," he said, swiping his hand over his face and swiftly summoned the Hollow mask to his face. Reiatsu blasted out at its appearance, smashing onto Ichigo's shoulders as he struggled to maintain his standing position. He dropped to one knee as Ulquiorra began to compress his gargantuan reiatsu so that it molded to his body and emitted a slight glow. Ichigo gasped, catching his breath and looking to Ulquiorra, whose eyes were now gold and black, veiled by a pristine Hollow mask which wept thick green tears in the shape of inverted triangles.

"W-what — when!? HOW?!?" Ichigo managed to stutter out.

"Perhaps mere minutes before your arrival. Grimmjow had sealed my zanpaktou. . . And I managed to 'bypass the seal', per se." Ichigo processed this, and asked,

"So, _that's _why you don't have your old broken mask and your Hollow hole?" Ulquiorra shook his head,

"You have it the other way around. The only reason I have this mask is that I had regained my humanity." Ichigo went wide-eyed at the prospect,

"_Really??_ And what gave you the power to just do that? Or maybe a better question: Why do it in the first place?" Ulquiorra turned his gaze from the Substitute Shinigami,"That isn't really your business. . . ." Ichigo scoffed, seriously considering that statement a little too weird to be coming from Ulquiorra,

"What is it, private?"

"Yes — I have my reasons. . . ." Ulquiorra was now very glad for the mask he was wearing, otherwise Ichigo would have seen the light stain of a blush coming across his face. Ichigo instead waved his hand indifferently and dropped the subject,

"Whatever you say. I'm gonna get those out of you now." Ulquiorra tensed slightly. He had felt pain before, and it was no matter to him to experience it now, but that didn't mean he had to enjoy it. That thought was quite strange to him, now that he mentioned it. He probably wouldn't have cared about pain either way — back when he was an Arrancar, that is — but now he seemed to have some sort of firm opinion that he didn't enjoy it. Ichigo stepped over now, and stabbed Tensa Zangetsu into the ground behind him. He kneeled down and put a hand on the blade that was stabbed into Ulquiorra's abdomen, about where his liver would be. With a sigh, Ichigo yanked the spear with a fast pull, earning a tight-lipped groan from Ulquiorra. Ichigo looked down at the wound, seeing no blood spilling from the gash. Ulquiorra's reiatsu was doing its job. Ichigo placed his hand on the second spear, situated right next to Ulquiorra's shoulder joint.

It was right then that Ichigo and Ulquiorra noticed the quickly approaching reiatsu of the former Ninth Squad captain. Ichigo dashed over to Tensa Zangetsu, grabbing it as he crept over to the opening of the cave. Slowly looking out across the plains, Ichigo saw Tousen blur into existence in between the two 'prongs' of the horseshoe structure. Ichigo compressed his reiatsu as best he could as Tousen scanned the area for reiatsu. Ulquiorra, too, had increased the compression of his reiatsu, hoping that Tousen wouldn't find them. Ulquiorra couldn't beat him in his current state, even if he did know the powers of Tousen's zanpaktou, and Kurosaki might not be able to defeat him either. Ulquiorra called out to the Shinigami with a whisper,

"Kurosaki, get back over here!" Ichigo turned, heading back into the cave, wondering just what the hell Ulquiorra wanted.

"What is it?"

"Stay right where you're standing. If we're lucky, he'll pass us by."

"What difference will it make—"

"Shh!! Just wait . . ." The pair sat still, yet feeling the reiatsu in their area. Ichigo blinked in surprise as Tousen's reiatsu began to shift from its position and move on. Ichigo directed his attention to Ulquiorra,

"How the hell did you know that would work??"

"I realized what this place was made of. I'm sure you've seen the trees that are scattered across Hueco Mundo."

"Yeah."

"Well, to an extent, that material stifles reiatsu. This structure is made of the same compound. I had hoped, if we were deep enough in the structure with our reiatsus compressed, we'd avoid detection. It seems as if my hopes were fulfilled."

"Yeaaah, no kidding," Ichigo confirmed with an affirming nod. Ichigo stabbed Tensa back into the cave floor and got back to business, "Let's get back to getting those spikes out of you."

------------------------------------------------------------------------

_At the same time . . . ._

Rukia, Orihime, and the others blurred into existence outside of the Urahara Shop. Orihime rushed forward, Rukia rushing behind her as she set Nel down on the ground, who walked behind them with the rest of the group. Orihime slid the door open to address Sandal-Hat,

"Urahara-san!" No one was there — not Tessai, not Ururu, not Jinta. Rukia stepped right beside her as she walked in, heading for the most likely place for him to be: the training room. Orihime pulled open the hatch, and, letting Rukia grab hold of her, dropped straight down to the ground with the others right behind them. When Rukia and Orihime gazed forward, they met a highly unexpected sight.

"Byakuya nii-sama!" The captain of the Sixth Squad turned behind him upon being addressed, as did the eleven other people present. Renji, truly surprised to see his captain, quickly acknowledged him,

"Kuchiki-taichou! What are you doing here?" At this point, the hat-wearing manager decided to speak up,

"What are _you _guys doing here?? I sent you all to Hueco Mundo not three hours ago!" At that point, Urahara noticed the presence of Inoue Orihime, which instantly changed Urahara's demeanor from surprised to his more controlled self,

"I see you've brought Inoue Orihime back!" The shop owner's face was now obscured by his semi-circular fan, "This is wonderful! But I notice also that in place of Kurosaki-san, you've brought along some new friends. Who are they?" Nel was more than eager to answer, lisp-riddled speech piercing the ears of everyone present,

"I'm Nel! Dis is Pesche and Dondochakka," she said, pointing to each, "and we are! —"

"ThievesGreatDesertThreeNelSiblingsDonSiblingsPe!" The ridiculous display merely brought about a wave of silence and awkwardness into the situation, which was mercifully remedied by Ishida saying,

"You guys are still out of sync. . ." The trio promptly argued over their title as Rukia and Orihime walked up to Urahara.

"We need you to open a Garganta for us, Urahara," Rukia pleaded, albeit with no less a stern look on her face. Urahara sighed and adjusted his hat with his fan still in his hand as he reluctantly admitted, "I can't do that."

Orihime was distressed. "Well, why not, Urahara-san?? We need to go back! We have to help them!" Urahara turned an eye to Orihime as he promptly inquired, "_Them?_ I was under the impression that it was Kurosaki-san who was left behind." Urahara now rotated full body towards Orihime, giving her his full attention, "Who else is with Kurosaki?" Orihime frowned at the question, turning her gaze away from Urahara's as she answered the question, uncomfortably, "Ulquiorra. . ." Kisuke blinked, his eyes widened now to a controlled state of surprise, "The _Arrancar??_"Urahara remembered well how that composed beast of a Hollow had managed to deflect Benihime's attack with his bare hand. He had also been quick to ruthlessly punish his subordinate with that same hand. Some of the Captains turned to the trio upon hearing it. Kuchiki Byakuya spoke up, voicing his concerns with an expression of complete composure,

"The boy is helping an Arrancar? Why?" Orihime turned her head to Byakuya, and quietly responded, "Because Ulquiorra freed me." The captains now had a decently surprised look in their eyes, and this time, Kurotsuchi Mayuri commented, "Freed you, did he? Strange behavior for an Arrancar. . ." Captain Unohana asked the most important question, "Why would he do that?" Orihime panicked internally. She can't tell them _that. _It's. . . embarrassing. So, against her better nature, she lied,

"I really don't know. . . But he did." She decided to leave out the part about the pair of Espada he fought for fear of the captains' further inquisition. Urahara sighed,

"Whatever the case, Orihime, I can't open a Garganta for you. I'm trying to adapt these Garganta so that the captains can go through without any complications — not to mention to get them into Las Noches. The earliest you'll be able to help Kurosaki is when the captains go. In the meantime," Urahara placed a hand on Orihime's shoulder, gazing assuringly into her eyes, "Have _faith_ in Kurosaki-san." Urahara gently squeezed her shoulder and turned back to the Garganta. Orihime tried to calm herself, but thoughts about Ichigo shuffled through her mind.

_Be safe Kurosaki-kun. . . You _and_ Ulquiorra. . . _

------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Number. . . Four?!?!" Ichigo was gaped in shock at the number on Ulquiorra's chest. The last of Tousen's blades that Ichigo plucked from Ulquiorra had pierced him just above the heart, through a tattered piece of fabric which, until now, had covered the rank tattoo. Its revelation surprised Ichigo, but puzzled Ulquiorra.

"Were you expecting some different?" Ichigo scoffed at the question, closing his eyes as he chuckled and toppled backwards, letting himself rest against the cave wall,

"I had honestly believed you were Number One." Ulquiorra found the thought quite silly with his prior knowledge of the Espadas' powers.

"Somewhat of an unfounded belief. There are at least 9 other Espada who could've held that rank."

"Well, you're not what I'd call 'weak'." Ulquiorra conceded the truth of that. Was he stronger, though, with this new power? He had much to come to grips with. Ichigo, in the meantime, was standing up again and checking each of Ulquiorra's wounds to see if the reiatsu compression was helping with the healing. "Well," Ichigo mused, "It seems to be working. If you can, I'd suggest you keep that mask on for a while longer."

"Understood." And here he was supposed to be nihilistic. Self-preservation? Since when did he start really caring about that? The pair rested silently for some time until Ichigo asked Ulquiorra,

"Ulquiorra. . . Why _did_ you let Orihime go?"

"Didn't I tell you I have my reasons?"

"I'm _curious!_ No need to be so defensive." Ichigo sighed, and Ulquiorra drew in a slow breath.

"I freed her becau—" Ulquiorra froze as his gaze turned to a spot on the cave wall behind Ichigo. Ichigo turned behind him, but nothing was there.

"Ulquiorra?" Ichigo looked at the masked man's eyes, but they were blank in their determined stare. Irregular grunts and sharp intakes of breath could barely be heard. Ichigo glanced down at Ulquiorra's chest. A hole was opening. Ichigo grasped his sword from the ground, swearing,

"Damn it! Ulquiorra!" He jumped to Ulquiorra's side, grasping Ulquiorra's shoulder with his free hand, "Concentrate! You gotta concentrate! Focus on stopping its spread!" It was too late. Ulquiorra roared in a terrible fusion of rage and agony, the mask itself opening its grisly jaw in eerie unison with Ulquiorra's own. Ulquiorra's right hand now grasped his sword and slashed outwards. From outside the entire structure, a loud crashing of rocks and rubble could be heard as Ichigo flew out of the cave. He had luckily parried the sword strike, but with Ulquiorra wearing that mask, he had still been shot straight out of the cave. Ulquiorra suddenly appeared in front of Ichigo, sword raised above his head in one hand. Ichigo brought his sword up in a horizontal stance to block the attack and the two blades collided. Ulquiorra's zanpaktou pushed with increasing force into Ichigo's, cracking the edge until Ulquiorra slid his sword and thrust Ichigo into the sandy dunes of Hueco Mundo. Sand scattered everywhere, and Ulquiorra darted down towards Ichigo, all the while roaring like a savage brute. When the sand cleared, Ichigo was masked like his opponent and whipped his sword out while yelling,

"Getsuga Tenshou!!!!!" The blast immediately hit Ulquiorra, but the ex-Espada tore through the blast with both his sword and his arms as if he were just pushing himself through water. Ichigo sped away with Shunpo as Ulquiorra crashed down on his last position. Ulquiorra roared, and started walking towards Ichigo, but with highly beleaguered steps. His own body might have been fighting against itself by the looks of the awkward movements he was taking now. Ichigo watched as Ulquiorra ambled toward him through his mask, and met the other pair of golden eyes for but a moment before Ulquiorra ripped his head back and unleashed a horrific bellow as gray tint seeped outwards from the Hollow hole and onto Ulquiorra's skin. The Hollow mask which he donned began to shift in its shape — the horns were moving forward, and the ribbed covering on the back of his neck were melding into two outward-protruding horns. All this accompanied by the sound of bones cracking as not only did pieces of Ulquiorra's mask began to crack and fall to the ground, but the two original horns were becoming more refined and curved. Out of Ulquiorra's back shot out threads of hair followed by two enormous black bones that were sharpened at their tips. Half of the mask's jaw was gone now, and with more bone-cracking came more of a change in the two bones jutting out of Ulquiorra's shoulder blades — they were now jointed and bent downwards like the frame of wings. All the while, Ulquiorra was screaming in pain. Dropping his zanpaktou, he grasped his head, mask fragments still falling from his face until little but the helm and the eyes of the mask were left. Ichigo noticed the zanpaktou, now stabbed into the sand, was translucent. The horns upon Ulquiorra's helm were now well-refined in their curvature. Ulquiorra, however, would let it go on no longer. Reasserting control of his body, he took hold of the helm on his head —

"_**NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**_" With all the strength he could muster, Ulquiorra had yelled and torn the remains of the Hollow mask from his crown. Ichigo stared as the wings and hair on Ulquiorra's back dispersed into ash, and the pieces of the broken mask fell off of Ulquiorra's head. The Hollow hole shrunk into nothing, taking with it the gray tint that was veiling Ulquiorra's skin. Ulquiorra fell on his stomach from sheer exhaustion, and his zanpaktou became fully opaque. Ichigo relinquished his mask. _Just what the hell is happening to him??_

Ichigo's eyes shot wide open as he felt a familiar reiatsu reveal itself along with one word:

"Bankai."

------------------------------------------------------------------------

_Elsewhere. . . _

Awakening, he opened his eyes in anxiety of what was to come. The injuries covering his body stung, delivering nothing but a wave of vexation upon him. He slowly stood, breathing in deeply so as to not overexert himself. He was tired, but his desire outweighed the callings of his body. He summoned his sword into his hand, letting his clothes return while simultaneously relinquishing his armor. Securing the sword to his waist, he walked in the direction of multiple strong reiatsus. He glided down calmly off the roof of Las Noches and landed softly on the sand below. Grimmjow Jaguarjaques, the Azure Panther, was ready to prowl once again.


	6. The Hindrance

Well, more reviews! Glad to read 'em! Thanks a lot! (That means YOU, AlleluiaElizabeth, I like when people are detailed in their reviews :P) More reviews are always appreciated, and I'll answer them with more chapters! :D Fair deal, no? Also, you may have noticed I've stopped using italics for certain pronouns. It's tedious, even if it _is_ grammatically correct. Well, I'll stop being boring and say:

Bleach is not owned by me, I simply write fanfiction for it.

Enjoy!

* * *

Ichigo turned to face the now-revealed captain but was met with nothing but a quickly forming darkness. Suddenly, there was nothing. No sight, no sound. Ichigo couldn't even see his own hand in front of his face. Ichigo yelled out to the captain,

"Where are you, Tousen!?" He was shocked to find that he couldn't even hear his own voice! Ichigo snapped his head around in every direction, but saw darkness at every turn. Without any warning, a huge blast of pain seared through his chest, as Tousen had sliced him diagonally across the chest, from the right to the left, from hip to shoulder. Ichigo staggered, turning to wait for the next attack. But Ichigo realized he couldn't wait, so he fired off a nameless Getsuga blast in front of him. He realized the folly of this quickly as he remembered he couldn't even _see anything_. A moment afterwards, Ichigo felt a second, mercifully smaller cut appear on the outside of his right arm and grasped it with his left hand. Letting the hand leave the wound, Ichigo swiped it across his face, conjuring his striped Hollow mask and shooting his reiatsu throughout the darkness. Ichigo pulled his zanpaktou across his left, holding his sword as Grimmjow did against Ulquiorra prior to releasing. Instead of transforming, however, Ichigo spoke the soundless word "Getsuga", and, pulling back even farther, screamed out silently,

"_**TENSHOU!!!!!!!!!**_" as he spun in a circle, blindly releasing a Getsuga Tenshou wave in a circle around him. He next swiped directly above him in the fashion of an 'X', launching Getsugas with both swipes. Ichigo blasted off, following the arc-waves as he swung madly with Tensa Zangetsu, hopefully colliding with Tousen as he went. But it wasn't Tousen that he found. Ichigo began to see the darkness fade as he rose, and saw the twin Getsuga Tenshous he had fired. Ichigo had escaped the darkness, and he glanced downwards. A great ebony dome stood there, tied off with cables to various points around it. _Is that. . . Tousen's Bankai??_ Ichigo had little time to think as Tousen appeared to his right with Suzumushi raised above his head and heading down. Ichigo swiped out and upwards with Zangetsu, deflecting Tousen's attack as he began to unleash a flurry of blade strikes upon the ex-captain. Tousen was struggling to keep Ichigo in check, as the masked assailant made hits more times than Tousen was able against him — if at all he discovered the opportunity! Tousen was caught off guard by a back-handed and sky-bound swipe that knocked Tousen's zanpaktou above his own head, freeing some room for Ichigo to thrust his palm into Tousen's chest. The captain slid through the air, pressurized pockets of oxygen following his path. Tousen sheathed his sword as Ichigo charged forward, declaring,

"Cry, Suzumushi." The sheathed zanpaktou was partially drawn, and, before Ichigo could reach Tousen, Suzumushi shrieked as the world turned to black and white. Ichigo stopped dead in his tracks as his ears went haywire, making him grasp his head, urging the pain to cease. As color returned to the world, Ichigo's Hollow mask snapped, spilling into a myriad of pieces that fell to the ground. Thankfully, the pain had ceased, but Ichigo was now brought to an even level with Tousen. Tousen fully drew his katana, dissolving the scabbard simultaneously. Ichigo, his aching past, swiped his zanpaktou through the air, pointing it at Tousen as he brought it to rest next to his head in an aggressive sword fighting stance. Tousen brought his own blade up directly in front of him as Ichigo charged forth like a battering ram, zanpaktou pointed forward like a pike. Before Tousen and Ichigo could clash blades, Ichigo shifted out of existence with Shunpo, escaping Tousen's sight. The orange-haired Substitute reappeared on the other side of Tousen, then to his left, right, front, until he was suddenly everywhere at once, circling around him with immense speed. Tousen couldn't fix on a target as it was gone the moment he managed to single it out. Ichigo tauntingly sped around him as he commented,

"You guys seem to know so much about my friends and me, but did you have intel enough to prepare for _this??_" Ichigo began to appear right next to Tousen and land strikes, most on Tousen's zanpaktou, but some attacks hit their mark with swift effect. Tousen was being quickly worn down and so, in the midst of the strikes, Tousen used his secondary attack.

"Benihikō," he cried, "Smash his limbs!" Ichigo was suddenly repelled by a ring-shaped perimeter of blades that surrounded Tousen. With a swipe of his sword, Tousen unleashed the swarm of swords upon the racing phantasms of Kurosaki Ichigo. The phantasms quickly disappeared as Ichigo appeared above Tousen with his sword at his side, sweeping at Tousen's head. Tousen disappeared with a swift Shunpo of his own, landing on the sand directly below Ichigo. Ichigo dashed forward, blasting though the air with his sword in hand. Once he got halfway, Ichigo Flash Stepped forward and instantaneously collided with Tousen's upraised zanpaktou. The impact sent ripples across the sand in a chaotic flurry of wind. Ichigo suddenly noticed the black dome rip apart, and, looking back to Tousen, saw him charge energy at the intersection of the fighters' blades.

"Hadō Number Thirty-Three: Sōkatsui." The spell glowed blue and thrust Ichigo back, several meters away from Tousen until it exploded, engulfing Ichigo in smoke. The Substitute swept away the smoke with a slash of his zanpaktou as Tousen came crashing against Ichigo's zanpaktou, pushing with considerably more force than before now that the dome no longer needed to be maintained. The two were face-to-face, each pushing back against the other.

"Why are you even working with Aizen anyway, Tousen!? Aren't you supposed to be a noble man, like the one I heard about from Hisagi and Komamura?? You're going to help Aizen kill everyone in Karakura Town, and for _what?!_" Ichigo hoped the words would somehow get to him, sparking _some_ sort of reaction, but Ichigo was disappointed as Tousen replied,

"Karakura must be sacrificed. Soul Society's hypocritical ways must be changed. This change is not so easy that it can be accomplished through politics. The entire outlook of the Shinigami must be transformed. For this, there must be a revision like none before it. Only then will there be truly peace. The people of Karakura will save a countless many souls, human, Shinigami, Hollow, or otherwise." Tousen pushed Ichigo back, causing them both to slide through the air, "I regret that Aizen-sama's path is the one I must take, but there is no other to achieve _lasting_ peace."

"That's not true!"

"Don't be so _**naïve**_!!! From the earliest anyone can remember, there have been Shinigami fighting Hollows, but has there been peace? No. Not _true _peace. And until Soul Society realizes this, there _can be no peace._" Tousen suddenly snapped his head to the right, and after a short moment, whispered, "Yes, sir." With a blur, Tousen disappeared, Flash Stepping away. Ichigo searched for the captain, but he was gone. Where he was headed, no one knew. _Probably went back to Las Noches. . ._ Ichigo sighed and descended, placing himself lightly on the cool sand of Hueco Mundo. Ichigo looked upon the inert body of Ulquiorra, lying beside his zanpaktou. A buzz echoed through the midnight air, and an Arrancar's reiatsu crashed down on Ichigo's shoulders.

"Well, Shinigami, not bad at all. Not. Bad. At all," remarked a cocky Espada. Ichigo turned behind him to see Grimmjow — battered, but still dignified in his stance — standing with his hands in his pockets. "Wanna go a round against me?" smirked the Sexta.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

_Concurrently. . . _

"Nnoitora Jiruga. . . We, the Exequias, will complete the task set before us and eliminate all those who fail Aizen-sama." Rudobon drew his zanpaktou as he stood, along with the rest of the ilk that is the Exequias, before the unconscious body of Nnoitora Jiruga. But then the prone Quinto stirred, slowly standing up and dragging his wrecked zanpaktou up with him. Santa Teresa's blades were reduced to nothing but a stump with a single broken prong stemming forward from it, and the bottom of the staff, which had a chain attached to it, was destroyed.

"So. . . You think that I'm done for, now? You think that I'm just gonna let you _kill me!?!?_ _**DON'T GIVE ME THAT CRAP!**_" Nnoitora swung his marred zanpaktou at the captain of the Exequias, who promptly disappeared with an Echoing Movement. He reappeared behind Nnoitora, who used the momentum of his first attack to swing around and collide with Rudobon's zanpaktou. "Don't you dare think I'm gonna die here!!" Nnoitora roared, shoving Rudobon back as he leapt into the air, Santa Teresa raised above his head and falling straight down on Rudobon's skull. Rudobon connected with Nnoitora's attack, Nnoitora's zanpaktou crushing Rudobon down. "I've still got enough strength to kill you and all your minions." Rudobon let his reiatsu flow outwards, waves of tight spirit energy flowing outwards from beneath him, molded to the fortress's roof. Letting his zanpaktou be pushed down, Rudobon swiped at Nnoitora's head as the Quinto's feet met the ground, but Nnoitora was swift enough to lean back in time. With a quick spin, Nnoitora used the shattered pommel of his staff to take Rudobon's legs out from under him, but instead met a parry that allowed him to swing the blade of Teresa out at Rudobon's head. Predictably, the Exequias captain ducked the blow, but Nnoitora launched him into the air with a kick directly from his left foot into Rudobon's chin. The force of the kick spilled some fragments of the mask as Rudobon slid across the roof. Standing quickly, Rudobon barked out his order,

"Exequias! Kill him!" The swarm of the Exequias charged forward, running at Nnoitora as they drew their zanpaktous. Nnoitora turned his head to the left and fumed as he watched the minions approach.

"I _**told**_ you! I still got enough strength to take down you **AND** your puppets!" Nnoitora glowed gold as his reitasu focused around his body. Ignoring that injuries that lined his body, Nnoitora focused his power into the zanpaktou, and the blade immediately burst in flashes of yellow shaped like the missing pieces of the zanpaktou. Bringing Teresa across his chest with a single arm, Nnoitora focused his power once more to disperse into miniscule orbs of light the energy surrounding the zanpaktou, revealing the full blades and chain of Santa Teresa. The Exequias were now upon him, but a step away, and Nnoitora swung his weapon outward, tearing through the horde. The defeated ones were flung backwards into those still running forward, and Nnoitora cackled with a new-found energy. Rudobon suddenly appeared in front of him, sword thrusting forward at Nnoitora's face. Jiruga tilted his head to the left, but swung the flat edge of Santa Teresa straight up into Rudobon's zanpaktou, smashing it upwards, Rudobon's hand along with it. Nnoitora kicked the bottom of the sword's hilt upwards, sending it flying out of Rudobon's hand. The Quinto Espada then bashed the bottom of his staff into Rudobon's rib cage, sending him flying through his legion of Exequias, who charged forward with killing intent. Nnoitora leapt backwards into the air, rising high above the masses of skull-wearing Exequias. Letting go of the staff, Nnoitora clutched Teresa's chain and spun the giant zanpaktou over his head, faster and faster. The impetus of the staff was sufficient enough to send wind flying everywhere, making it difficult for the Exequias to reach him, slowing them down. Nevertheless, they charged forward, trying to strike Nnoitora down. When the wave of them were close enough, Nnoitora pulled down on the chain and hurtled the zanpaktou sideways into the crowd of Calaveras, cleaving them into halves. Nnoitora restarted the deadly windmill, waiting for more targets, but the Exequias waited below him with their captain, who had his zanpaktou in his hand again. Nnoitora smirked, amused by the pitiful Exequias.

"That was a total waste of my time," Nnoitora spat, "I'm just gonna kill you **now!!**" Nnoitora slowed the spin, instead making sure he put as much force as he could behind his swing. "_**DIE!!!!!**_" Santa Teresa was flung straight at Rudobon, shooting like a ballistic missile towards him. Before Teresa could reach her mark, the pack of Exequias pooled in front of Rudobon to stop the blade, but she plowed through and made an opening. There was a clang, but it wasn't Rudobon who blocked the assault.

"Nnoitora, cease your hostilities and head to the infirmary," said Tousen, holding Nnoitora's blade back with his own, "Rudobon, gather your troops and return to your regular duties." Rudobon sheathed his sword as Nnoitora pulled Santa Teresa back towards himself.

"Yes, Tousen-sama," Rudobon bowed, turning to his remaining troops, "Exequias, to me." The captain of the Exequias left with his troops as Nnoitora glided down to the ground, headed for the hole in the roof. Tousen was already at the hole, heading down. Nnoitora let out an exasperated sigh. . . _I'm gonna kill 'em. . . Tousen, Rudobon, Ulquiorra, the whole lot! I'll crush them!!!_

------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Grimmjow. . ." Ichigo raised his zanpaktou, scornful eyes gazing into Grimmjow's own. The Sexta's smirk widened as he walked towards Ichigo,

"I _said_, do you wanna go a round or _not!?!_" Ichigo was unchanged in his demeanor, and replied coldly,

"Not interested. I have some other priorities right now, Grimmjow." Jaguarjaques had noticed Ulquiorra lying in the sand earlier, and was quite frankly amused.

"So, you're protecting Ulquiorra, huh? I have some flashes of what happened after our battle. I saw Tousen attack him, but after that, I was unconscious. So, did he manage to get the girl out?" Ichigo stared at Grimmjow, but answered nonetheless,

"Yeah. . . He did." Grimmjow smirked. Ulquiorra, the Savior. What a hoot.

"So. . . Did he tell you why he did it?" Ichigo blinked. That was a strange question to ask at this juncture. "He didn't, did he? Come on, Shinigami, Schiffer there is a human now. You can't tell me he just did it 'cause he could." Ichigo lowered his sword, letting himself relax for a bit, but he was confused by Grimmjow's questioning.

"Come to think of it, he was about to tell me when he. . ." Ichigo trailed off, turning to Ulquiorra as he contemplated the meaning of it.

"Well, Kurosaki? He was gonna tell you when he _what?_" Ichigo turned back to Grimmjow to answer his question,

"He was about to tell me, but he began turning into a Hollow." Grimmjow's eyes widened a fraction, but then they were opened wide, Ichigo's eyes as well, for a massive reiatsu had suddenly appeared, and it was coming from neither of them. The duo turned their heads to Ulquiorra, who was pushing himself off the ground with his arms. White wisps of fluid congregated at his right eye and the upper half of that side of his face. A horn formed from the wisps, spreading outwards from its placement to arch around Ulquiorra's closed right eye. Schiffer opened his eyes and glared at the two rivals.

The irises were painted gold and surrounded by sclera of black. A hole opened in Schiffer's chest.

"You've gotta be kidding me."

------------------------------------------------------------------------

_"Are you alive?"_

Ulquiorra awoke, sand acting as a cushion below his prone body. He had been lying face-down in the sand, and so, he slowly brought himself up. _Where am I?_ Ulquiorra stood, faltering for but a moment before righting himself. Upon first glance he could tell that wherever he was, it was _not_ Hueco Mundo. While the sand that lay below him looked just like the sand in Hueco Mundo, everything around him was quite different. Firstly, Ulquiorra was in an enormous, Colosseum-sized arena ringed by some strange rock-like structure. Ulquiorra deemed the structure to be made of the same kind of quartz as the trees in Hueco Mundo. The structure surrounded the arena with spires that rose up and curved over the sand field. The area gave off the feeling of some sort of erosion that had taken place. Ulquiorra looked further up. A pale full moon shone against a background of stars, and from Ulquiorra's perspective, two of the spires seemed to flank the moon in such a way that their tips seemed to hold the satellite up. A shadow forming on the ground between the spires caught Ulquiorra's attention. The shadow had a caster, and Ulquiorra looked up at some strange, dark figure that he couldn't distinguish. He couldn't even tell if it was vaguely humanoid. A second figure on the ground walking towards him from the deepest part of the shadow now took Ulquiorra's attention. The figure's hands were in its pockets as it walked forward, and Ulquiorra's eyes widened as it approached. It — _he_ — was clad in white, with white hair and equally pale skin. His coattails flittered behind him as Ulquiorra noticed the details of his face: black eyes with golden irises, with solid black tears streaked down his cheeks. This was some twisted replica — a warped duplicate of some sort. Ulquiorra was just staring, eyes gazing wide with confusion. The clone stepped from out of the shadow and stopped, matching Ulquiorra's confused gaze with his own cold stare. The clone spoke, in a voice similar to Ulquiorra's, yet distorted and echoing in an eerie manner,

"I see you're confounded by what your eyes are showing you, Ulquiorra." Ulquiorra, at this point, managed to find a voice for himself, and responded,

"To a degree, I am. What are you? What is your purpose here? What is this place?" The clone closed his eyes for a moment before answering, his eyes never breaking contact with Ulquiorra's,

"I am you. Your antithesis, negative, inverse, pick what title you will, but I have no name. In the end, I am just your opposite. Even our clothing represents this." Ulquiorra looked down at what he was wearing and was shocked to see that in place of the ebony-trimmed white Espada clothing he normally wore (and what the clone was now wearing), Ulquiorra was clad in ivory-trimmed black, much like the clothing of a Shinigami. While the color scheme had changed, the shape of the clothing hadn't shifted from the Espada clothing he usually wore. The clone in the meantime, spoke again.

"As for my purpose," he said, drawing a sword Ulquiorra hadn't noticed before, of a purple weave hilt, opposite Ulquiorra's green zanpaktou hilt, "It is to destroy you, Ulquiorra." The clone brought the sword across himself diagonally, one hand on the hilt. Ulquiorra drew his zanpaktou, keeping his sword tip forward with two hands on his hilt. The clone spoke once more, cold enmity evident in his voice,

"Prepare to die. . . Ulquiorra. . ."


	7. The Subjugation

Whoooooo WEEE, have I taken a while to update... And I'm really sorry... But Writer's Block and actual friends (HAH! Who knew I had 'em .) result in little updating! So, I hope this chapter satisfies your need (and I really do hope you have a need :P ) to know what happens next! As always, reviews are (desperately) appreciated, as are any questions (send me a message or something. :D )

As is consistently the case, I don't own Bleach. I just make fanfiction out of it...

ENJOY!

* * *

That uppercut _hurt._ _**Really **_hurt. That was the singular thought that crossed Ichigo's mind as he crashed down into the sand, a good twenty meters away from Ulquiorra, the one who punched him. Grimmjow was already standing from the painful kick he had received. The partially-masked Ulquiorra stalked forward, murderous eyes locked on Ichigo, who had himself already stood up. Ulquiorra quietly blazed forward, disappearing but reappearing right in front of Ichigo, right hand pulled back to punch. Ichigo brought up the blunt end of Tensa Zangetsu to block, barely catching the devastating punch which drove Ichigo back through the sand. Grimmjow appeared behind Ulquiorra and slashed with his zanpaktou, one-handed, at Ulquiorra's neck, sweeping from left to right. The blade suddenly stopped, and Grimmjow scoffed as he saw the back of Ulquiorra's left hand holding Pantera's blade at bay. Ulquiorra turned his head to the left, piercing Grimmjow with his blackened eyes as the fluid of the hollow mask crept along the brim of his eye. Shoving the sword away, Ulquiorra punched viciously into Grimmjow's rib cage, knocking out air and spit from Grimmjow's mouth with the force of it. Ichigo appeared on Ulquiorra's right flank and began swinging Tensa Zangetsu at every conceivable angle, sweeping and jabbing at the Hollowfying ex-Espada. The strikes never met their target, though, as Ulquiorra was speedily dodging each and every swing and thrust as it came along, frustrating Ichigo enough to swing down with a nameless Getsuga Tenshou blast which Ulquiorra defended against with arms crossed in front of himself. The arc-wave pushed Ulquiorra back, but dissipated after a short while, immediately after which Grimmjow appeared with a kick to Ulquiorra's left side, sending him sprawling next to his zanpaktou. As Grimmjow and Ichigo raced towards the ex-Espada, Ulquiorra drew his sabre from the sand as he stood. With a raging, agonized roar, Ulquiorra mindlessly swept his zanpaktou across their own, sending them away instead of allowing them to strike him. Ulquiorra let out a low growl, allowing more of the mask to seep down the right side of his face and generate a bony jaw.

"Well, I guess we can say that he's not gonna stop unless _we_ stop him," Ichigo sighed. Grimmjow, standing right next to him, was keen on being sarcastic,"Really, Shinigami, d'ya think so? I didn't think he was just gonna give up if we asked him to. . . Idiot." In this short time, Ulquiorra had raised his left hand in front of him, a lone finger pointed towards them. An emerald sphere kindled at its tip.

"Damn it!" Ichigo swiped his free hand across his face and summoned his Hollow mask, disappearing in the act. He emerged at an angle above Ulquiorra, Tensa Zangetsu raised diagonally to strike. The Hollowfying ex-Espada lifted his hand higher and unleashed the cone of pure energy straight at his assailant, who slashed at the incoming Cero, blocking it, but he was pushed back as a result.

"Grind! — _**Pantera!!!**_" Ichigo swiped away the Cero with a quick Getsuga that negated the beam. He looked to the source of the invocation and his eyes froze upon twin columns of sand that surrounded Grimmjow and molded into a singular, grand funnel of sand. The sand swirled for a few moments before dissipating and revealing Grimmjow's Resurrección. Distracted, Ulquiorra observed as Grimmjow let loose a powerful growl that erupted into a deafening roar. Ichigo put his sword arm up in front of his face to block the wind that was shot out. _What the—? A sound wave? Just his scream is this strong??_ The panther leapt upwards in a wild spiral, far above Ulquiorra, and then, he sped towards him like a bullet, disappearing momentarily after his acceleration. His reappearance caused an explosion of wind upon colliding his clawed hand with Ulquiorra's zanpaktou. Grimmjow brought up a leg to bear down on Ulquiorra's unmasked cheek, sending him twirling sideways over the sand, almost comically. The Sexta chased after him, claws dragging behind Grimmjow's feline form. The Hollowfied victim instinctively reoriented himself to retaliate, zanpaktou already swinging forward to meet the Espada, who subsequently leaned back, dodging the blade. With his momentum still dragging him forward, Grimmjow landed his body with his arms, simultaneously pushing himself up into Ulquiorra's face to plant his pawed feet. The agile display was successful, and Grimmjow was launched like a trapeze artist, practically weightless, into the air. With a spin, Grimmjow faced in Ulquiorra's direction and launched a quintet of darts from his elbow at the prone figure. Without even standing, Ulquiorra disappeared with Sonído and thrust his sword with the speed of a machine gun upon appearing in front of Grimmjow. The five darts sent sand flying upon their explosions as the Sexta Espada dodged and reflected Ulquiorra's strikes, focusing intently upon where the next strike would go. Behind Ulquiorra, Ichigo appeared with his zanpaktou raised above his head, the sword charged with seemingly wicked energy.

"_**GETSUGA TENSHOU!!!!!!!**_" The blast both engulfed and impacted against Ulquiorra, almost seeping towards Grimmjow, but he had been lucky enough to move away with Sonído, seeking refuge on the ground. A bellowing roar echoed from within the smoke, pushing it back in a noticeably spherical pattern from the force. Ichigo brought up his free hand to cover his eyes from the intense wind. Even Grimmjow had to turn his head away, if only for a moment. Ulquiorra, enraged, charged at Ichigo and swiped his zanpaktou furiously, seeking to keep Ichigo from protecting himself. The part-Hollow swept Tensa Zangetsu away with his zanpaktou and struck Ichigo straight in the face with a hard punch. Ichigo flew back and fell to the ground, shards of the cracked mask trailing behind him. A beam of blue suddenly enveloped Ulquiorra from his right, bursting apart on impact. The might of Grimmjow's Cero had managed to almost incinerate Ulquiorra's sword arm, that much Grimmjow could tell as Ulquiorra fell backwards and down toward the ground. Ulquiorra never reached the ground, for he had slowed himself down and turned himself back towards Grimmjow, sand swirling around the Hollowfying man as his reiryoku propelled him forward. Grimmjow then noticed that Ulquiorra's arm was healing itself as he approached, bringing the katana across himself as he had against Grimmjow in the beginning of their last battle. Grimmjow veered to the right, blocking Ulquiorra's downward-sweeping zanpaktou with his elbow blade. He then suddenly lifted his leg in a swift kick to Ulquiorra's abdomen, slowing him down and letting him float for a split second. Using his reiryoku to keep himself afloat, Ulquiorra twirled like a horizontal top and swung out his left leg, shin impacting mercilessly into Grimmjow's face. Grimmjow flew back and flipped once to orient himself. Ulquiorra gave him hardly any time to react; slashes and thrusts were delivered en masse, seemingly simultaneously. Grimmjow managed to deflect some but took several painful cuts across his extremities in the process. With an upward slash with his right hand's claws, Grimmjow got his opponent's sword out of the way, and using the same arm, fired a single dart directly into Ulquiorra's chest, just below the Hollow hole. Ulquiorra staggered back for but a moment, but even that was enough time for Grimmjow to flip backwards and kick Ulquiorra's chin in the process. Ulquiorra was shot, missile-like, into the black sky of Hueco Mundo. Ulquiorra stopped himself, and a black shroud appeared in front of him. Ichigo slashed outwards with Tensa Zangetsu, letting blood fly from Ulquiorra's collarbone as he composed himself in the same stance he had carried after deflecting the entirety of Kuchiki Byakuya's Senbonzakura. Ichigo's mask was now pristine but for the center, where the bridge of his nose was revealed, and it seemed as if there were no slits for the eyes, just an open space. The teeth, in contrast, were whole, and opened in unison with Ichigo's jaw as he yelled, charging forward at Ulquiorra.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

_At the Urahara Shop. . ._

With Urahara Kisuke hard at work on modifying the Garganta, the rest of the waiting crowd had little to do. Tessai, Ururu, and Jinta would help Urahara by fetching something when needed, but otherwise, they tended to the shop. The captains were more or less calm at this point. With the surprise of Orihime's rescue past, each captain went back to his or her habitual motions. Yachiru was already boring Zaraki with her talk of some weird shapes she saw in the rocks that abounded Urahara's training room. Byakuya was standing upright, not far from Urahara, tranquilly observing his focused work. Kurotsuchi, quite contrastingly, was quite interested in the newly arrived Arrancar — peppy, even, one might say, as he questioned them. Nemu stood, statue-like and detached, next to Mayuri as he prodded the Arrancar with inquiries. Unohana, after checking each of the newly-arrived group for injuries (which turned out fruitless, of course), was conversing quietly with her lieutenant, Isane, while Hanatarou went to talk with Renji, Chad, and Ishida. Orihime was sitting on a low rock, nibbling at her bottom lip, and Rukia took her attention as she walked up next to her,

"You feeling all right?" Rukia smiled gently, and Orihime returned the gesture,

"Yes, I'm all right, Kuchiki-san. I was just thinking. . ."

"What's on your mind, Inoue?" Rukia took both the liberty of sitting down next to the apprehensive-seeming girl and asking another question, "You're worried about him, aren't you? Ichigo?" Orihime glanced down at her hands in anxiety before answering meekly,

"Yes. . ." Rukia sighed, but not in displeasure so much as calm consolation and understanding, for she too worried about that orange-haired fool.

"You don't have to worry," Rukia assured her, "Ichigo knows what he's doing. He's not _that_ much of an idiot." Orihime gently staved off Rukia's attempts to calm her worries,

"I know, Kuchiki-san, but. . . there's more to it than that." Rukia nodded,

"I know what you mean. . . I still worry about him too. . ." Orihime turned to better face the Shinigami, a look of concern plastered to her face,

"It's not just that. . ." Rukia's ears perked up to this, and she promptly asked the obvious question: "Well, then, what is it?" Orihime hesitated, looking to the rest of the people in the room as she bit on her lower lip.

"Do you remember when I said I had been rescued by an Arrancar?"

"Yes."

". . . And do you remember me saying I didn't know why he did it?"

"Yes. . ." Rukia was beginning to feel wary of where this conversation was going.

"Well. . . I lied. . ." Rukia blinked and stared widely at the statement. What could possibly make Orihime _lie?_ "I know why Ulquiorra rescued me," she continued, but stammered slightly as she spoke, clearly nervous about telling anyone about this, "It's because. . . He. . . loves me. . ." Orihime didn't think Rukia's eyes could widen anymore than they already had, but they did. The Shinigami quickly checked for observers of their conversation, and finding none, turned back to the girl in front of her and leaned towards her, whispering,

"Are you _serious?_" Orihime reluctantly nodded. "That's. . . That's just completely unprecedented! For an Arrancar to fall in love — !" Rukia took a moment to ponder this bizarre turn of events. Orihime struggled with what she said next, but she had to get it across to someone,

"And Kuchiki-san, I'm afraid. Not just afraid for Kurosaki-kun, but for Ulquiorra-san as well. He risked his life to free me, but the Captains no doubt see him as an enemy. They'll probably kill him. . ." Rukia gazed at her friend's selfless concern, contemplating the change Inoue had brought upon the apathetic Arrancar. Rukia closed her eyes and smiled before placing her hand on her friend's shoulder and looking into her eyes with a determined stare,"Then we'll just have to find the two of them first."

Orihime smiled. There was hope on the horizon.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

The clashes of two similar zanpaktous ramming into each other repeated over and over and over as the blades' owners sped past each other. Sonído amplified their speed so that they could consistently blaze past each other as streaks, letting loose sparks from their swords upon impact. Ulquiorra and his doppelgänger had yet to land a strike on each other (even after five entire minutes of Sonído attacks), though with the speed they were displaying, outside observers would have trouble noticing if they did cut each other. The doppelgänger grew tired, vanishing with Sonído just as Ulquiorra was to slash at him. The Hollow stabbed with his katana from behind Ulquiorra, but cut nothing but air as his target disappeared himself. Ulquiorra cut down at the doppelgänger's extended right arm, but the Hollow pulled his arm back to catch the blade with his own. Ulquiorra began slashing at breakneck speed, using two hands to increase his attacks' strength, but the doppelgänger needed only one hand on his own sword to defend against Ulquiorra's onslaught. Ulquiorra began pushing the doppelgänger back with his strikes until the Hollow swept aside Ulquiorra's thrust with his palm and made his own riposte. Ulquiorra replied with two Sonídos, one to escape upwards from the thrust, and the second to bring himself straight back down, landing on the Hollow's horizontally-raised zanpaktou. Ulquiorra pushed down with increasing force onto the Hollow's sword, his face skewing in vexation while the Hollow remained lifelessly stoic in his expression. The Hollow then raised a finger to point at Ulquiorra, a black-tinged, pinkish-red light forming at the tip for but a moment before blasting outwards, engulfing Ulquiorra in the blast. That had been what the Hollow had thought happened, but Ulquiorra reappeared, unscathed, behind the Hollow with a finger raised to the duplicate's head. The emerald Cero shot forth, but this was also a failed assault. The Hollow had used Sonído to appear far on Ulquiorra's left, sword held casually in his hand.

"Though it's amusing to know that you have strength enough to keep up with me," the doppelgänger commented, "I don't intend to fight you forever. I've wasted enough time." With a burst of speed, the doppelgänger appeared high in the sky above Ulquiorra, lifted his free hand, and fired off a continuous barrage of Bara blasts, the Hollow's arm moving at machine-gun speed. Before any of the multitude of reiatsu bullets could reach him, Ulquiorra sped away, materializing at the Hollow's right flank with a Cero charging at his finger. The Hollow whirled around and fired the Baras straight at the now-incoming Cero, halting it between the two combatants. The profusion of Baras began to destabilize the Cero, causing it to explode, dispelling the reiryoku that was fueling it. With an abrupt buzz, the Hollow appeared behind Ulquiorra. Ulquiorra clutched his left flank with his arms, blood shooting out momentarily before seeping out into his clothing.

He had nearly been cloven in two. Ulquiorra turned to see the Hollow's back, and the blood which stained the Hollow's zanpaktou. Ulquiorra scoffed, a half-cough that deposited blood on his chin. The doppelgänger lifted his arm from his side, pointing a finger to his left as he fired a Cero, but to Ulquiorra's confusion, the Cero was disappearing into nothingness as it fired. Hearing noise above him, Ulquiorra turned his gaze upwards to see a sanguine beam speeding towards him. With barely a second to spare, Ulquiorra got his zanpaktou above his head and protected himself from the Cero, which shoved him towards the ground. Before he reached the ground, Ulquiorra sped away with Sonído, the Cero burning through the sand. Ulquiorra reappeared behind the doppelgänger, sword darting forward at the Hollow's head. The Hollow leaned his head away from the thrust, turning his head back as he did, turning his body with him. Swinging his zanpaktou's blunt edge up, knocking Ulquiorra's sword upwards, the doppelgänger elbowed Ulquiorra — or the air, rather; Ulquiorra slipped away with another burst of Sonído and sped upwards behind the Hollow, slashing his back as he did. Blood spilled as the back-spanning cut opened wide. Ulquiorra was now floating calmly above and behind the pained clone of his, clasping his side with his left arm. The clone, despite his momentarily disgruntled expression, showed little along the lines of pain, but Ulquiorra knew his assault hurt. The Hollow turned, using Sonído to lift himself to Ulquiorra's altitude.

"What was that technique? Is it your unique type of Cero?" Ulquiorra inquired. The Hollow didn't speak, but instead raised a hand and tapped the air. A miniature Garganta opened, rather quickly as well, many times faster than a normal Garganta would open. Another one opened on Ulquiorra's left, and through it he could see the Hollow.

"A useful ability," the Hollow began, "though regrettably, one that can only be used here, in the confines of your mind." Ulquiorra's eyes widened.

"My _mind?_" he said, clearly surprised to hear this. "Does that mean none of this is real?"

"Quite to the contrary. This is no illusion." With the index finger of his sword hand, the Hollow fired a small green Bara through the Garganta, which Ulquiorra swept away with his arm. The pair disappeared once more, their swords clashing rapidly as they reappeared higher up and kept rising, circling around each other. Ulquiorra became more ferocious with his swings, adding more force behind them, pressing the Hollow into using two hands in defending himself. The Hollow defended aptly, yet Ulquiorra was still getting through and cutting him. _What prompted _this_?_ the hollow contemplated. Ulquiorra managed to duck a horizontal swing that the Hollow unleashed, sweeping out with his right hand, consequently leaving himself wide open. Ulquiorra rose quickly, zanpaktou poised high above his head and slashed straight down. A long gash appeared through the Hollow's shirt, and dark blood spilled from it as the doppelgänger staggered backwards through the air, gripping his chest with his hand.

"You are in my way, mimic," Ulquiorra declared, raising his zanpaktou directly in front of him, "I must return to the real world—"

"And then _what?_" coughed the Hollow, blood spilling from his mouth as he lifted himself to his former rigid, upright stance. "To the _woman? _ pathetic emotions are in vain," he scoffed, spitting blood from his mouth, his expression unchanged even if his demeanor was judgmental, "No matter what you may truly believe, you are still an Arrancar. No insipid _change of heart_ will alter this fact: _She will never truly love you._"

"_**SILENCE!!**_" The Hollow stared in astonishment at Ulquiorra's outburst. Ulquiorra swept his zanpaktou outwards, speaking in a wavering tone that was so much unlike him, "You're not the one to be making judgements on things you know _nothing about!_" After this sudden declaration, Ulquiorra's voice calmed, returning to its original stoic timbre, "I shall defeat you, impostor, and take back my body!" Just as he spoke those last words, a different sight flashed before his eyes: _Kurosaki?!_ Ulquiorra had seen Ichigo fighting, as if he himself had been fighting the Substitute Shinigami. Another person flashed before his eyes. _Grimmjow!?!? _The Hollow observed his counterpart, "You can see them, can't you? Grimmjow and the boy. Your body, devoid of a consciousness, has fallen back on its instincts and begun morphing into a Hollow, the latter effect due to my influence. When I defeat you here, I will reign over this body, and you shall be nothing."

"I won't let you do it."

"You have little say in the matter."

"We'll see about that soon enough," Ulquiorra retorted. The Hollow closed its eyes in exasperation, opening them a moment later. Ulquiorra charged the Hollow, and the Hollow Ulquiorra before the two clashed their blades together, the swords flaming emerald green and pink scarlet, inverts of each other as their owners are. The two energies destabilized each other, exploding and flinging the combatants in opposite directions. The doppelgänger quickly sheathed his blade and pointed both of his index fingers in different directions, firing off Ceros from each hand. The Ceros disappeared into thin air, passing through their own mini-Gargantas. Two corresponding Gargantas appeared in front of Ulquiorra and belched out the Ceros, which shot at him with the speed of freight trains. Ulquiorra used Sonído to dash backwards and away from the oncoming Ceros, but they once again passed through a set of Gargantas that opened up a subsequent duo of Gargantas that cut off Ulquiorra's escape route. Ulquiorra quickly charged as much reiryoku as he could into one hand and blasted a Cero head-on into the two heading towards him. The trio of Hollow Flashes exploded on impact, sending a huge gust of wind flying past Ulquiorra. The Hollow appeared right in front of him and slashed down with two hands, diagonally slicing Ulquiorra's chest and flinging him far down into the sand that filled the dark quartz structure. Ulquiorra quickly stood, despite the large gash that painted his chest with blood. Lifting his left hand to aim at his doppelgänger foe high above, Ulquiorra gathered reiryoku in a large green sphere. The Hollow's eyes showed no surprise or fear, and simply waited for the attack to come. And it did, as Ulquiorra shouted,

"_**Gran Rey Cero!**_" The sphere exploded outwards, headed towards the indifferent Hollow. The Hollow, having charged his zanpaktou with reiryoku enough to make it glow a crimson-pink, raised his sword and swung it down at the Gran Rey Cero, carving it into two streams of energy. The Hollow cut through, and was met with Ulquiorra charging towards him with blinding speed until he disappeared into thin air. And this was no Echoing Movement. Hearing a Garganta open behind him, the Hollow spun with his zanpaktou to the right, cutting through whatever was behind him. What was behind him was Ulquiorra, but he disappeared once again, before the Hollow's zanpaktou could reach him. Now, with the Hollow wide open, Ulquiorra appeared in front of him once again, sword pointed straight at his heart, moving forward, faster and faster until he impaled him. The Hollow's eyes gaped at the sword that skewered his rib cage, and, spitting blood, the Hollow spoke,

"You learned to use that technique rather quickly. . ." Ulquiorra, with grim eyes, solemnly replied,

"Desperate times. . ." The Hollow agreed,

"So it seems." Ulquiorra slid the sword up, cutting it through and out of the Hollow's right shoulder. The Hollow arched its back and began to fall, but burst into ash before it could descend anywhere. Ulquiorra watched as the ash swirled and flew in a line towards the strange figure that was perched in between two of the coliseum spires. Ulquiorra froze as the entire world seemed to darken. . .

------------------------------------------------------------------------

_In Hueco Mundo. . . _

Things weren't going too well for Ichigo and Grimmjow. Ulquiorra was getting closer and closer to becoming a full-fledged Hollow. The mask had already covered the entirety of his jaw, and while it had slowed down, Ulquiorra himself hadn't. Ichigo and Grimmjow were both clashing with the former Cuarto at the same time, and yet, they were hardly gaining any ground. Whatever cuts they inflicted were ignored, and by the time they managed to get another attack through, the original wound was practically gone. It didn't help that both Ichigo and Grimmjow had battles before this one, and were already drained of their power somewhat. Ichigo's mask was reduced to a small jaw piece on the left side of his face, much like Grimmjow's pre-release mask fragment. The blades on Grimmjow's limbs were all in some state of damage, but, if nothing else, Grimmjow still had claws with which to strike.

Ulquiorra kicked Grimmjow in the gut, knocking him over and sliding him across the sand. The Hollowfied Ulquiorra then turned on Ichigo and focused its berserk assault on him. Each slash was accompanied by a successive scratch or punch of some kind, and Ichigo had trouble keeping up. The Hollow fiercely backhanded Ichigo, impacting directly at the remaining mask pieces. The lower half of the jaw broke apart, leaving only the top row of teeth. Ichigo reeled from the brutal attack, spinning around, leaving himself wide open, but before the demi-Hollow could attack again, five large, glowing claws caught Ulquiorra at each of the extremities and just below the neck, pinning him to the ground. Ichigo looked back to see Grimmjow floating in the air and holding up a second set of identical claws. Ichigo reached him with a Flash Step, and Grimmjow announced his attack,

"Desgarrón. It's my strongest technique, Shinigami, and I don't know how long it's gonna last. Got a plan?"

"Not really," Ichigo said, "but if you could give me some time, I could probably get some of my reiryoku back."

"How _much_ time?" Grimmjow asked, noticing Ulquiorra's vicious writhing under the grasp of Desgarrón.

"I don't know, and I don't know how much energy I'll get back, either."

"Wonderful. . . Well? Get to it, Shinigami!" Grimmjow barked.

"Got it." Ichigo held up a hand to his face and slowed his breathing. Crimson-black spirit particles slowly congregated at Ichigo's face, gradually molding into the shape of the left side of his mask. Grimmjow, left arm extended in control of the Desgarrón claws, noticed black spots appear at Ulquiorra's shoulder blades. From these spots burst twin bat wings, longer than Ulquiorra was tall, and as dark as the surrounding night. _Crap! _Grimmjow thought. The wings extended fully outwards and flapped down, crushing the two Desgarrón claws that pinned the Hollow's arms down. Ulquiorra dropped his zanpaktou and took hold of the Desgarron claw embedded in his back, crushing it in his hands. Ignoring the final two Desgarron claws embedded in his legs, Ulquiorra stood, grasping his zanpaktou as he did. With a single motion, Ulquiorra cut through the remaining claws, and all the pieces of the five claws faded into nothingness. Grimmjow lifted his right hand and flung it forward with a yell, sending the other five Desgarrón claws careening towards the demi-Hollow Ulquiorra. Ulquiorra slashed down through the claws, taking out two while one pierced him in the shoulder, the other two in the stomach. Ulquiorra raised his zanpaktou and smashed through the remaining claws, and they disintegrated. Speeding forward with an Echoing Movement, Ulquiorra crashed into Grimmjow's face with a painful head-butt, sending him falling to the ground in pain. Ulquiorra turned once again towards Ichigo. _Damn it! I've only gotten half the mask back!_ The Hollow charged towards Ichigo and slashed down with its sword. Ichigo blocked with Tensa Zangetsu, struggling for a few moments before being overcome and shot to the ground. The impact had cracked the mask, and Ichigo slowly brought himself back up on his arms and knees. Ulquiorra appeared in front of him after a burst of Sonído, and Ichigo stabbed upwards with Zangetsu, aiming for Ulquiorra's heart. The Hollow caught the sword before it could get anywhere and yanked the sword from Ichigo's hand. Ulquiorra tossed it away and shot his hand toward Ichigo's chest. The hand pierced Ichigo's rib cage just below the collarbone, and the half-mask Ichigo had managed to re-summon fell apart in pieces. Grimmjow stood, recovering from his dizzying assault, and saw the black disappear from Ichigo's eyes.

"_**Kurosaki!**_"


	8. The Interlude

Well, holy freakin' hell. It has been a LONG. TIME. I am SO, SO SORRY for being so lazy and not putting in time to actually WRITE this next chapter for those of you who may have been really eager to see how the story goes. I've just had so many distractions, it's been a nightmare. Hopefully, this chapter won't bore you too terribly, but I promise you: Better stuff will come, and much, MUCH sooner than this terribly late atrocity! PHEW! Now... No more delays. Enjoy the story!

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach, I make fan fiction out of it!

* * *

With a resounding crack, the winged demi-Hollow that Ulquiorra had become wrenched its hand from Ichigo's chest, and with a swipe of its flattened hand, sprayed Ichigo's blood across the gray sands of Hueco Mundo. Grimmjow rushed forward, hoping to catch Ulquiorra off-guard. _Damn it! If that punk Shinigami is dead, then I have a real problem on my hands!_ But even as Ichigo toppled and fell face-first into the ground, Ulquiorra bent forward as he began to glow with light, and jade-tinted spirit energy blasted forth from his body, repelling Grimmjow and flinging him meters away from the pierced Shinigami. Ulquiorra, clutching his mask with his left hand, clenching the hilt of his zanpaktou with his right hand, screamed as his wings once again burst into glowing ash and his mask fell to pieces. Ulquiorra — the person, as opposed to the beast — regained consciousness, looking out at the Hollow World around him. His eyes fell on the dead eyes of another being, one he had unintentionally slain. He nearly choked on the spot. He staggered backwards, angered with what he had done, knowingly or not. He fell, landing on his knees, zanpaktou dropped and forgotten as he pounded the ground with his fists. Grimmjow walked calmly, his long hair flowing behind him as he spoke,

"So, Ulquiorra. . . You gonna be anymore trouble? Or am I gonna have to kill ya?" The Sexta Espada relinquished his Resurrección and brought his blade to rest on Ulquiorra's neck. "_Well?_" The former Cuarto didn't even seem to register the presence of Grimmjow's blade on his throat. He simply uttered, indignation evident in his voice.

"I killed him. . . Didn't I?" Ulquiorra lifted his head, his gaze falling on Ichigo's body. Grimmjow sighed as he slowly relinquished Pantera, replacing it in its scabbard.

"Yeah. . ." As if to confirm Grimmjow's answer, Ichigo suddenly burst into wisps of red and black that seeped upwards from his body, replacing his Bankai clothing with the regular Shinigami outfit. Turning behind him, Ulquiorra saw Tensa Zangetsu revert to its Shikai form in the same manner as Ichigo. Looking back to the fallen Shinigami, Ulquiorra buried his face in his left hand,

"She'll. . . Never forgive me. . ." Grimmjow scoffed, letting his arms swing momentarily at his side in utter annoyance of Ulquiorra's current attitude before bringing them to rest, hands-in-pockets.

"What's done is done, you idiot," reminded Jaguarjaques, "You killed the kid. Deal with it." Schiffer, however, remained silent, reminiscing angrily over his involuntary actions. "Oh, for the love of —" Grimmjow grabbed Ulquiorra by the arm, lifting him, and before the Cuarto knew it, the Sexta had backhanded him straight across the face, and none too softly, either. "Wake up, Ulquiorra! Stop acting like the world's ended and face the damn facts! You _killed him, whether you like it or not._ You can't change that now." Grimmjow shoved Ulquiorra away, leaving the darker-haired man to stand aside in contemplation. Sticking his hands back in his pockets, Grimmjow spat straight down. He was almost _sickened._ He just couldn't freakin' believe he was giving advice to _Ulquiorra_ of all people. The thought alone practically made him sick.

"Though I certainly didn't need _you_ to tell me that. . . I admit you're right. . . " Grimmjow turned to Ulquiorra and chuckled,

"You're damned right I'm _right_." Grimmjow looked to Ichigo, who yet lay there, still as a stone. _Damn. . . And here I was, ready to kick that runt's ass. . . What a turn of events. Come to think of it —_

"Hey, Ulquiorra. Kurosaki's friends are probably gonna come back for 'im, right?"

"Yes. . . "

"The girl will probably be with 'em. She can probably heal him." Ulquiorra looked at the blue-haired man, mild surprise in his expression,

"That may be the case, but. . . Nevertheless, I hardly think they'd react well to this. . . But why would you even want that? I'd have thought you'd want Kurosaki dead."

"Yeah, but _I'm_ gonna be the one to finish him, not you, Ulquiorra. Why do you think I was here in the first place? I was gonna kick the crap out of the kid, but then look what you did." Grimmjow sighed, and Ulquiorra closed his eyes as he spoke,

"Then all we can do now is wait. . ."

------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Good news, everyone! I believe I can open a Garganta for you!" Urahara Kisuke yelled with an excited fervor from behind his fan, walking towards the group of teenagers who had recently arrived from Hueco Mundo. Everyone's attention was suddenly fixed on the meek little shop keeper, and Ishida was the first to question,

"I thought you weren't going to be able to open the Garganta until you'd modified them for the Captains — have you managed that _already?_" Sheepishly, Urahara replied, "No." Everyone in the room, excluding the Captains, who stood there with blank stares, fell flat on their faces, and Renji groaned, "Then how the hell are you supposed to open a Garganta??" Kisuke grinned, closing his fan with a snap as he approached the teens,

"Well, I've just discovered that I can open one of the Gargantas meant for the captains while I prepare the other three. So, you can go through while I put some finishing touches up for the captains' Gargantas. Their reiatsu is considerably greater than yours, mind you."

"So when can we go, then?" Orihime asked eagerly, anxious to help Ichigo. Urahara pointed his fan towards two boulders with wooden supports jutting out of them,

"Right now." A Garganta promptly tore open to reveal the netherworld dividing Hueco Mundo and the real world. Orihime, Rukia, Renji and the rest all approached the Garganta, with Nel and her companions close behind. "Remember, don't fall off the path you make. Now, this Garganta should lead straight to Las Noches. Be on your guard." Orihime considered Urahara's warning, and worried of the dangers yet to come. "Go."

Rukia, Orihime, Renji, Ishida, Chad, Nel, Pesche and Dondochakka all leapt forward and hit Rukia's spirit particle path running.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

_In Las Noches. . . _

"Nnoitora." The word was spoken crisply, yet soothingly, as only Aizen Sosuke could speak it. The enigmatic leader of the Espada rose from the lone throne that overlooked Hueco Mundo in all its bleakness. The Quinto Espada bowed on one knee, a fist supporting him as he brought his head low. Having just been released from the infirmary and given a new set of clothing, Nnoitora was quickly summoned to this balcony of Aizen's. The dual-crescent cleaver on Nnoitora's back gleamed in the moonlight which was shining into the moderately sized hall, the light reflecting in Aizen's eyes as Nnoitora looked up to meet the ex-Shinigami's gaze.

"You failed, Nnoitora. Both you and Grimmjow were given the tool that should have guaranteed your victory over Ulquiorra — the Esfera Negación — yet you were still defeated within an inch of your life." Though Nnoitora heard no anger or hostility in Aizen's voice — no emotion at all — Nnoitora could tell that Aizen was obviously vexed. "Explain to me, Nnoitora, why we have lost not only two of the Espada, but Inoue Orihime as well." As he finished this last sentence, Aizen let loose his reiatsu, crushing Nnoitora down as he crouched, still bowed down on one fist. "You know that I cannot waste the top three Espada's strength, they are to eliminate the Shinigami captains. So _explain. _Why have you _failed?_" The air itself almost seemed toxic as Aizen intimidated Nnoitora, who was having great trouble breathing. Nnoitora was choking on his next few words,

"H-. . . He transformed. . . into a — _kheh! _— human!" The absolutely crushing reiatsu that Aizen was pooling straight onto Nnoitora relented, letting Nnoitora breathe, but still maintained its hold so as to keep Nnoitora bowing.

"A human?" Sosuke questioned, sounding genuinely interested — as interested as the man could sound, anyway — and further commented, "Most interesting. How'd this come about?" Aizen now completely released his hold on Nnoitora, freeing him from the spiritual pressure. Nnoitora took a short moment to get his breath back before explaining the sealing of Ulquiorra's zanpaktou with the Esfera, his profession of love for Orihime (which Nnoitora was truly disgusted to even _mention_), and subsequent summoning of a full Hollow mask.

"So," Aizen began, "Ulquiorra Schiffer has not only become human, but can summon a Hollow's mask. . . Hm." A small smirk appeared on Aizen's face as he looked down to Nnoitora to dismiss him, "Head down to the meeting room. The rest of the Espada are gathered." Nnoitora noticed Aizen hadn't said a word about Ulquiorra's. . . _connection_ to Orihime, but kept quiet. As Nnoitora exited the room, a certain smiling man stepped forward from one of the corners of the room, voice ever-joyful,

"Ya never quit toyin' with 'em poor souls, do ya, Aizen-sama?" Aizen smirked as he turned back to the empty expanse before the two conniving ex-Shinigami.

"Discipline must always be maintained, dear Gin, else only chaos would ensue in our ranks," Aizen commented. Gin frowned, somehow playfully, and questioned his master,

"Ya never had to force me to kneel to follow yer orders."

"Hmm," chuckled the master hypnotizer, "quite so. You've never been one to disappoint, Gin." Aizen turned behind him to smirk, almost darkly, at his subordinate. Ichimaru walked forward to stand at his master's right side. Tousen suddenly entered the small chamber and flanked Aizen opposite Ichimaru.

"Schiffer and Jaguarjaques are intact; the ryoka from Karakura is with them," reported the blind underling. When Aizen said nothing, Tousen was somewhat caught off balance. "Is there a problem, Aizen-sama?" Aizen merely turned around to leave, speaking placidly as was his custom,

"Come. We must inform our Espadas of the situation to come." The two followers fell into step with their master, their devious machinations about to truly take place.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

A Garganta tore open the realms, just above the gray sands of Hueco Mundo, revealing an odd group rushing out of the chaotic rumblings of the dimension that divided the Human and Hollow worlds. Rukia was the first of the group to jump out onto the dunes, "We finally made it," she wheezed, "That was a much longer run than I was expecting." Renji, in the meantime, dropped beside her, followed by Chad, Ishida, Orihime, Nel, Pesche and Dondochakka. The Garganta whined shut behind them, and they took a few minutes to take a breath, all except Ishida, Orihime, and Nel, who had used Ishida's Hirenkyaku platform to speed through the Garganta realm.

"Y'_know_, it would've been _nice_ if you could've used that little surfboard of yours to carry _all_ of us. . ." Renji panted out, clearly just a little bit tired after his dash. Ishida merely pushed up his glasses, a somewhat devious look in his eye as he innocently replied,

"I couldn't do that. . . Any more than 3 people could've destabilized it. Besides, I'm not so generous as to let someone like _you_ just hitch a ride." Renji seemed to pop a vein as he replied,

"Whaddaya mean, someone like _**me**_?" Renji cracked his knuckles menacingly as he began to approach the smug Quincy, but was bashed over the head by Rukia,

"Cool it, you hot-headed fool. We need to find Ichigo."

"AAAH! I jutht realithed!!! Where'th Bawa-Bawa!?!" Nel panicked, remembering just now that their big worm-like friend was nowhere to be found. Pesche was quick to salvage the situation, though, as he quickly explained,

"Don't worry, Nel! Dondochakka's got him in his stomach, he's all right!" But this only created a bigger problem:

"You ates Bawa-Bawa!?!!? Why would you do dat!??!" Dondochakka just spat the worm out, though, before Nel bawled her eyes out. Bawa-Bawa landed on the sand with an over-enthusiastic "BAWAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!" and Nel gave the largest member of her original gang a big hug. Ishida, of course, only shook his head, mumbling, "They're really strange ones. . ." to which Renji replied flatly, "You're not one to talk, wearing _that_ outfit." "_Enough,_" Rukia sighed, exasperated. She looked around them, and saw Las Noches off in the distance. "Good thing Urahara didn't send us any closer over there," she nodded towards the massive fortress, "Now let's concentrate, everybody. We have to find Ichigo." Everyone except the Hollows in the group closed their eyes to search for Ichigo's spiritual pressure. The amount of Hollow reiatsu around was almost stifling, now that they noticed it. Rukia grimaced, focusing herself more on finding her friend. She finally had to ask, "Can anyone else sense him? I can't seem to find him. . ." Chad was the first to respond,

"No, I can't sense him either. . . It's like he's just. . . Gone." Orihime was shocked out of her concentration and shot her eyes open, almost stuttering,

"Kuchiki-san, you don't think that means — !"

"No. I don't think Ichigo's stupid enough to get himself killed. Don't worry, Inoue." Rukia smiled at her young friend, but underneath that veil, she was truly concerned for Ichigo. Could he have really been. . . Killed? She couldn't accept it. Orihime suddenly realized, "There's another way to find him." Everyone turned their attention to her now, eager to hear her idea. "We have to go that way," she stated matter-of-factly, confusing everyone.

"Inoue-san," Ishida began somewhat nervously, "How are you so sure that that's where Kurosaki is?" Orihime turned to him and said,

"Because that's the direction I'm sensing Ulquiorra's reiatsu."

"All right then," Rukia declared, eager to be on the move already, "Let's go." Bawa-Bawa slithered forward and everyone climbed on, heading towards Ulquiorra and, they hoped, Ichigo as well.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

_Some twenty-five minutes later. . ._

"AGH! There's absolutely _NOTHIN'_ to do! I can't _stand_ this! Ulquiorra, just fight me already, at least to give me something to _DO!_" The Sexta Espada kicked the sands in front of him, frantic with boredom. Ulquiorra, sitting with his knees folded Indian-style beneath him, merely closed his eyes, and enunciated,

"For the last time, Grimmjow, _no. _We don't want any sort of uninvited guests simply showing up to attack us, do we?" Grimmjow finally dropped down on the sands in exasperation, arms flung straight out as he lay on the ground.

"At least killing some other Hollow would change it up a little. . ." Grimmjow sighed. The Sexta took a few moments to think and take a few breaths before addressing the former Cuarto,

"Hey, Ulquiorra. . . What's it like?" Ulquiorra was shocked out of his momentary meditation, his eyes flung open upon hearing Grimmjow's comment. Jaguarjaques just stared upwards at the dark night sky, watching the thin wisps of cloud slowly shift past.

"You mean. . ." Ulquiorra started, a little uneasy about the whole subject.

"You _know_ what I mean," chided Grimmjow, sitting up to listen to the Arrancar to his right, "Don't force me to make a fool of myself having to even say it, just answer the damn question." Ulquiorra sat still for a moment, taking a moment to think of the most 'correct' answer, whatever _that_ may be.

"The word 'strange'. . . Is decidedly insufficient. 'Comforting' seems to serve more effectively. . . But I think most of all. . . Just being around her makes me feel. . . Warm." The ex-Espada gazed forward across the sands, feeling somewhat exposed, having laid bare his feelings towards Inoue Orihime for Grimmjow to hear. Quite honestly, he was expecting some sort of snarky criticism from the Sexta, but when Ulquiorra looked to Grimmjow, all he saw was a face skewed in frustration. Fact of the matter was that Grimmjow was seriously contemplating Ulquiorra's words. If one were observant, he or she may have guessed the Sexta Espada to even be _jealous. . . _Grimmjow stuck his arms in his pockets, simply getting himself into a more relaxed when he noticed a small cube sitting snugly in his pocket. _That could come in handy later. . . _ The pair of Hollows rested, one sitting, one lying down, for a few moments more before Ulquiorra stood and turned, facing the horseshoe-shaped quartz structure where he and Ichigo had originally hidden themselves from Tousen. Ulquiorra turned to Grimmjow, who had also gotten up and stood next to Ulquiorra to scan the same landscape,

"Do you hear that?" Grimmjow nodded, replying with a slightly annoyed "Yeah." The two of them knew what that sound of shuffling sand was.

Kurosaki's friends were here.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

"We're here," Inoue declared, sitting with Rukia on top of Bawa-Bawa as they shuffled along, coming around this fairly large abandoned Hollow nest. The group was a bit anxious about meeting up with Ulquiorra again (and from what they were able to tell before arriving, a second, unknown, but definitively Hollow entity). Rukia and Renji stood, their free hands holding their zanpaktous by the scabbards, sword hands placed around their swords' hilts. A shorter, black-haired Arrancar, and a slightly taller, blue-haired Arrancar came into view as they rounded the curve of the horseshoe nest. Ishida, Chad, Rukia and Renji all tensed as they got closer. They were going to be extra wary with these Arrancar. As Bawa-Bawa came almost right up to the Arrancar, the black-haired one, Ulquiorra, stepped forward, hands extended outwards, in a we-have-nothing-to-hide gesture. Whatever words he may have spoken were lost open them, however, as their eyes collectively fell upon the body of Kurosaki Ichigo with a hole in his chest and dead eyes.

* * *

Well, I hope that wasn't too terrible.

Any criticism of any kind is much appreciated. One thing that I'm constantly worrying about is proper characterization, and criticism related to that would be VERY helpful. I promise you, though, for those of you disappointed with this chapter, the next chapter will start of with action and just go from there, so don't worry about that. Still, hope you enjoyed it so far, and I hope to keep taking it to the next level as the story moves along! Thanks!


	9. The Apology

Aaaah... Took me long enough, but I did it. Chapter Niiiiiiine! These past two chapters were a little tough on me, 'cause, if you hadn't noticed, my strengths lie in depicting actions sequences! SO. This was a bit of a learning experience. I had a lot more fun with this than I thought I would now that I look back on it... (Y'know... Now that it's DONE) But, now I can get on with this!

Enjoy Chapter 9!

* * *

Before another word could be said, Rukia suddenly rushed at Ulquiorra with Shunpo, her zanpaktou already drawn and swinging down at Ulquiorra's head. Ulquiorra intercepted it with his own sword, easily keeping her at bay as he tried to reason with the raven-haired shinigami,

"Wait a moment! Calm down!" Before he could say anything more, a second figure appeared to his left beside Grimmjow and thrust his zanpaktou forward, crying out,

"Howl, Zabimaru!" The flat top of the spiked zanpaktou rammed into Ulquiorra's blade, the blade extending and pushing him through the sands until he finally pushed his own feet out to cancel out the motion. Renji's blade retracted, but Rukia wasn't done, though. Far from it, she was in a rage — a rage clearly visible in her furious glare.

"Dance, Sode no Shirayuki!" Rukia turned her sword upside down, morphing it into the pristine white work of art that is known to be in Soul Society. The long white ribbon extended outward and followed Rukia's movement as she spun her zanpaktou into a horizontal position before reciting,

"First Dance, Tsukishiro!" Rukia slashed outwards, summoning a white circle of light underneath Ulquiorra's feet. Ulquiorra leapt straight up into the air, but the circle glowed brighter, forming a cylinder of light all around him that filled rapidly with ice. Ulquiorra brought his left hand up to his face just as the ice consumed him. The ice began to crack, but before the entire structure could shatter, jagged blades of energy shot out through the cracks as they gleamed a bright green. The cylinder crumbled, the ice falling into ever smaller and smaller pieces until the ice column disappeared, leaving Ulquiorra to stand in the air with his mask veiling his face.

"Enough!" he shouted, sheathing his zanpaktou before disappearing in a static-emitting blur of Sonído to stand in front of Rukia. She swung out at his face, but Ulquiorra easily caught the blade in his right palm just before it made contact. Renji flung Zabimaru out in its whip form to attack Ulquiorra from his left, but he also caught the Shinigami blade with his opposite hand. Ulquiorra turned his attention from the now-secured bladed whip to look into Rukia's burning stare, the ex-Arrancar's morphed voice resonating,

"_Calm_ yourselves! We don't mean any harm! Let us explain ourselves before trying to strike us down." Rukia could only bow her head down, her eyes shaded and revealing nothing as she whispered,

"You killed him. . ." Ulquiorra flinched slightly. He knew this was one way this whole situation could have panned out, but he had hoped it wouldn't come down to it. The blade-whip trapped in his left hand suddenly flung out from his grip and retracted as he noticed Grimmjow walking toward Renji, drawing his sword without any particular rush as the Shinigami prepared himself. Ulquiorra almost panicked, calling out to the Sexta, "Grimmjow, don't—"

"You killed him," Rukia interrupted, repeating the fact half to herself, half to the Espada who still grasped her sword. Rukia lifted her head, and Ulquiorra could see the crystalline gleam in her eyes. He could tell she was almost at the brink of tears. "The two of you killed him, and you expect us to still be calm!" Rukia pushed the masked Espada back and jumped away from him at the same time. She started to pierce the ground in front of her until four marks were made, and her next attack was ready,

"Second Dance," she cried, holding back the tears that wanted to burst forth. _Not again, _she thought. An image of Kaien Shiba flashed through her mind as she pointed her blade towards Ulquiorra Schiffer. She glanced upon Ichigo's motionless body.

_I don't want to lose him again!_

"Hakuren!" The frigid wave of reiatsu-turned-ice charged toward Ulquiorra from Sode no Shirayuki's tip, threatening to consume him. Before the ice could reach him, though, a triangular orange shield spawned in front of him, forcing the ice to stop and spike outwards, deflecting at multiple angles off the shield. The shield dissipated, followed quickly by the ice as Rukia turned around to see Orihime rushing towards them.

"Please, stop! Don't fight!" she pleaded as her Shun Shun Rikka returned to her hair pins. The timid girl slowed down, walking up to Rukia and taking hold of Kuchiki's lowered blade by the hilt. "Please, Kuchiki-san. Put away your sword." Rukia flinched visibly, having just realized what she was doing at that moment. She gazed uncertainly into Orihime's eyes, and relaxed, if only slightly. _What am I __**doing?**_ Her Shikai faded, returning her sword to its sealed state before she sheathed it uncertainly into its scabbard. Kuchiki exhaled shakily, adrenaline still running through her body.

"Thank you, Inoue. I'm sorry." The pair of them turned to Ulquiorra, who had walked toward them in a state of surprise. _She saved me, _he pondered. _She __**wanted**__ to save me. . ._ Orihime was the first to speak, beginning slowly,

"Ulquiorra . . . Why . . ." She stopped for a moment and walked over almost unwillingly to Ichigo's body, which was laid down on its back rather than its front thanks to Ulquiorra. After all, he couldn't just leave Kurosaki just as he was when he killed him, face-first in the sand. Orihime stood right next to Ichigo and crouched down onto her knees to the right of Ichigo's body, Rukia having followed her and standing beside her.

"Ulquiorra, why did you . . ." she tried to begin, but sobbed for a moment before bringing strength back into her words, "Why did you do this?" Ulquiorra walked over to her, dissipating his Hollow mask before answering,

"It . . . Wasn't intentional . . . From what Grimmjow told me before you arrived, I had been turning back into a Hollow. I had no control over my body . . . _That's_ when I . . . When I killed him." He finished with a tone of finality, at last having told her truth. At this point, Grimmjow and Renji had walked up to the rest of them. _Thankfully they're not fighting, _Ulquiorra thought. Behind Ulquiorra, Chad, Ishida, and the three Arrancars had walked over to the group. Ulquiorra had noticed that the other two friends of Kurosaki's didn't really help out, but he could tell they were simply sizing up the situation. _The one called Ishida had his Quincy cross ready . . . And that larger one seemed to have been more than ready for battle, but the two seemed to be waiting for an opportunity . . . Interesting._

"Hurry up and heal him, woman." Everyone in the group turned to Grimmjow Jaguarjaques, looking at him with incredulous expressions on their faces. "_What?_ I need this orange-haired bastard over here to be in top condition before I can show him just how much stronger I am than him!" A feral grin formed on the Sexta Espada's face, but Orihime stared at him in fear.

"You want me to heal him just so you can fight him again!" she asked with deep concern evident in her voice. But just as the rest of Ichigo's friends were about to burst out in protest, Grimmjow roared out,

"_**You're damn right I do! And you!**_" Grimmjow pointed at Orihime, "_**YOU'RE gonna make sure he's back on his feet,**_" and now placed a thumb on his chest,_** "'Cause I'M gonna tear him a NEW ONE!**_" This time, though, it was surprisingly Chad who spoke up in defiance of the overwhelming Espada,

"What makes you think we're just going to let you fight Ichigo by himself?" Grimmjow's grin faded into a scowl of irritation.

"Look at it this way. Would ya rather have him stay dead? Besides, he'll probably be as eager to fight as I am, and I hardly see him as the type who wants help in a _one-on-one_ duel." Grimmjow's grin returned with this final statement, as everyone had nothing more to say at this point. Ulquiorra stood silently, contemplative of the situation at hand. He was unsure of how he even felt about the situation. That is, he knew Ichigo's friends were against healing him to fight, but he personally did not concern himself with the ethics of it. Meanwhile, Orihime unleashed her healing barrier, trying to fix Ichigo's perforated torso. She agreed with Grimmjow on one point: she wanted Ichigo to be alive, so she got to work. He had a multitude of cuts all over his body, which was stained with various streaks of blood that were quickly fading thanks to Orihime's rejection technique. The orange gleam of the shield reflected in Zangetsu, which was lying to Ichigo's left.

_There's an . . . Incredible reiatsu wrapped up deep within Kurosaki-kun's wounds . . . I can hardly reject it! _Orihime concentrated harder on Ichigo's chest wound, dried chips and flakes of blood rising out of the gaping hole along with dark spirit energy. Finally, it began to slowly close in on itself, the dark void being filled in with healthy human skin. Suddenly, Ichigo blinked, the life suddenly back in his eyes as he twitched back into conscious existence. He turned his eyes to the right, letting them fall upon his healer.

"Inoue? And Rukia? What? What are you guys doing here?" The two girls smiled at him, relieved that he was back. Ichigo then looked past them, somewhat startled, "Ulquiorra . . . Grimmjow . . . You guys are okay," he sighed, relief clear in his voice.

"I'm still not happy about you wanting to fight him, Espada," Rukia suddenly shot out at Grimmjow, turning from Ichigo to stand and face the blue-eyed Arrancar, "Ichigo just _died_, and you want him to just up and brawl with you?"

"Listen up, _Shinigami_," Grimmjow snapped, the title rolling off his tongue like an obscenity, "Me and Kurosaki got some unfinished business to take care of, and _I'm_gonna make sure it's taken care of. So shut your damn trap before I tear another hole in yer gut, just like last time!" Rukia grasped her sword, ready to face down the Espada at a moment's notice,

"You bastard . . ."

"Rukia, stop." Kuchiki did just that, turning to Ichigo with surprise plastered over Rukia's face as he continued, "Calm down. I'm alright . . . Grimmjow," Ichigo addressed the Arrancar with a stern look on his face, "Don't worry. I'll fight you . . ." Determination visible on his face and clear from his tone, "And then we're all heading home." Ichigo smiled, looking at Orihime who blushed lightly and smiled back at him. After about ten more minutes, Ichigo was fully healed, his body and clothes both undamaged. He stood, taking hold of the cleaver that was lying in the sand next to him as he turned to face Ulquiorra and Grimmjow. The Substitute Shinigami looked over their bodies, taking note of the multitude of wounds they were bearing. Ulquiorra didn't have any grievous wounds thanks to his prior Hollowfication, just a variety of nicks and small slashes. These were accompanied by splashes of dried blood from wounds that had since sealed up by means of high-speed regeneration. Grimmjow was a little more worse for wear, with a few larger gashes across his chest to supplement all the minor scrapes and cuts that had mottled his skin with his own dried blood.

"Inoue," he said, the girl giving him her attention as he spoke, "Please heal Ulquiorra." Orihime's eyes shot open, but she said nothing as his gaze turned from Ulquiorra to Grimmjow, to whom he nodded and said, "And heal Grimmjow, too." Jaguarjaques merely frowned, advising Ichigo against it,

"Bad idea. I don't need your pity." Ichigo merely held Grimmjow's gaze, calmly stating facts to the Espada,

"It's not pity. You want us to fight on equal footing, right?" There was no reaction from Grimmjow, so Ichigo continued nonchalantly, "Or do you want to save all those cuts for an excuse when you lose?" Grimmjow's eyes widened, angering him enough to yell as he drew his sword, bringing it upwards just to fling it down on Ichigo, who brought Zangetsu up horizontally to parry. The swords connected, letting loose a loud, metallic clang upon everyone's ears.

"Excellent!" Grimmjow chuckled, a fierce grin lighting up on his face, "All right, let's have us a fair fight!" The two pushed off of each other, each one staring the other down as Ichigo rebuked with quiet zeal,

"You're on!" It hadn't seemed possible, but Grimmjow's grin got even wider, and what seemed like bloodlust glinted in his eyes. Ichigo swung his sword onto his back as it wrapped itself back up. Grimmjow sheathed his sword, still grinning at Ichigo, who had a serious, piercing gaze fixed on the Sexta. It was at this point that Orihime did as asked and summoned her healing shield to engulf Ulquiorra. She raised her hands to the shield, concentrating carefully on his wounds. Grimmjow plopped himself down on the sand, waiting eagerly for his turn to be healed. _Shoulda freakin' told her to heal me first . . ._

Ichigo walked over to the rest of his friends, Chad, Ishida, Renji, and Rukia all giving him worried looks while he was just smiling, happy to see his friends again.

"What?" he asked, the smile fading just a little as curiosity set in.

"Kurosaki, are you sure it's such a good idea to be fighting him right now? Shouldn't we just leave, now that we've rescued Inoue-san?" Ishida made a good point, to which Renji added,

"Not only that, but by the looks of it, that Espada's no pushover. Are you sure you can handle him alone?" Ichigo merely gave him a pointed look, eyes furrowed but a smile on his face,

"Don't worry so much, Renji. I can handle 'im. I want to settle this. Maybe we could get just one more strong fighter on our side, who knows?" Ichigo turned to glance at Grimmjow, who was lying on the ground, apparently taking a bit of a nap as he waited for Orihime to heal Ulquiorra. Nel suddenly came up to the orange-haired teen, asking him with doubt seeping through her voice,

"Itsygo . . . Are you really gonna fight him?" Ichigo was just short of stunned to see the little Arrancar on the brink of tears. He knelt down to put a hand on her head, trying to comfort her in spite of the broken mask in the way.

"Yes I am, Nel. Now, don't give me that look." Nel looked like she was about to bawl her eyes out before Ichigo said, "Hey . . . Don't make that face, Nel! It'll be alright."

At the same time, Orihime and Ulquiorra were having a quiet conversation of their own as Orihime healed the ex-Espada. Only moments after Ichigo had walked off, Ulquiorra said in a low tone,

"I'm sorry." Orihime's eyes shot up to meet his, the girl having been focused upon Ulquiorra's wounds.

"Eh? What for?" Ulquiorra wasn't looking at her, head turned away (and although he'd never tell anyone, he was trying to avoid making eye contact).

"That's what humans do, isn't it? When they wrong someone, it's only prudent for them to apologize for their actions, no?" Orihime just kept staring at the ex-Arrancar, not really knowing what to say. After all, she hadn't expected him to say anything of this sort, well, _ever_. "Well," he continued, his face now turned towards her, but his eyes still wandering away from hers, "I wanted to say that I'm sorry for having brought you here — for tearing you away from your friends, for making them think you had betrayed them . . . And for simply making you go through all this." Ulquiorra mustered enough will to glimpse into her eyes, but immediately sent his gaze downwards into the sand. He hadn't felt so humble before anyone except Aizen, though he had never felt so strange before that man as he felt now. He repeated, for the final time, "I'm sorry."

"It's alright." Ulquiorra now looked up at Orihime, more than surprised to see her with a modest smile on her face — no anger, no hurt evident in her expression. "I know that you were just following Aizen's orders. Right? And . . . That wasn't the real you doing those things . . ." Ulquiorra blinked, eyes going wide as she continued. _She can't possibly know about my . . . __**other**__ . . . self . . . can she? _"I noticed you changing when you were fighting Grimmjow and Nnoitora . . . Your reiatsu, your demeanor, even the way you seemed to just _look_ at things was different . . . And then when you turned human, I couldn't feel any part of your old self left. It was like you were someone completely different, yet somehow, still the same. But then, when you put that mask on . . . It was like the old you had come back. But even though you changed on the outside, I knew you were still that new person. I knew that you were just doing it to help me." Ulquiorra couldn't even speak, much less react consciously. But then she looked directly into his eyes and spoke soothingly,

"That's why it's alright, Ulquiorra. I know you didn't mean to hurt me. So there's nothing you have to be sorry for." Ulquiorra could only continue to gaze into her eyes, utter shock plastered onto his face as he comprehended the things she had just told him.

"O- . . . Orihime . . ." Orihime broke their mutual gaze into each other's eyes, clearing her throat as she announced,

"It's done. You're healed." Ulquiorra looked down at himself. His Espada outfit was completely repaired, with the zipper open slightly to reveal the spot on his chest where the Hollow hole _would _have been, but was now gone. It was strange for him to see his human hands, now flush with color, clashing with the white cloth of his sleeves.

"It's done, eh?" Grimmjow suddenly exclaimed, taking Ulquiorra's and Orihime's attention, "All right, woman. Get to it." Orihime dispersed her healing shield to send the Shun Shun Rikka in Grimmjow's direction, healing his wounds. In the meantime, Ulquiorra had some time to think.

_I truly hadn't expected that to end so well . . . Wait a moment. __**Well? **__What am I doing? I can't delude myself. She's a human. But what am I, really? Nnoitora said I was human, but humans don't have this kind of power. Am I a Shinigami, then? Like the boy? _Ulquiorra glanced over to Ichigo, who was talking in somewhat quiet tones to his friends. The Substitute seemed edgy and ready to fight. _The boy . . . She went to him that night . . . I can't forget after all . . . To her, that boy is . . ._

A high-pitched sound came from Orihime's direction, Ulquiorra noticing she'd finished healing Grimmjow. Jaguarjaques grinned as he looked himself over, good as new. He turned to Ichigo, grinning,

"All right, Kurosaki. Let's get this started!" There was no start to the battle, though. Three rapid-fire bursts of Sonído turned the group's attention to the top of the horseshoe structure. The low timber of a man's voice could be heard from one of the three Arrancar who stood upon the structure's summit,

"My, my . . . Take a look at what we have here, _amigos_. A motley crew of _invasores _and two _traidores_." Ulquiorra's eyes narrowed in irritation. Grimmjow walked up, flanking him from the left, an equally irritated expression on his face as he called out,

"The _hell_ are you three doing here? I didn't realize the last of the Privaron Espadas were so eager to get their asses kicked!" Irritated though he may have been, Grimmjow had other thoughts running through his mind.

_These guys could pose a good distraction . . . Then I'll just have Ulquiorra to worry about . . . But that won't be a problem. _Grimmjow glanced at the green-eyed man to his right whose gaze was still fixed upon the newcomers. The Sexta stuck his hands in his pockets, his right hand taking light hold of the object resting there. Meanwhile, Dordonii only smirked, not at all fazed by the taunts of one who was so much stronger than him. Cirucci was the one to speak this time, her words infused with scorn, but at the same time, excitement,

"You're _traidores_, sure, but we're not here for _you._ We're here for those kids behind you." The group of friends expressed their shock well, surprise quickly apparent on their faces. But Grimmjow wasn't thrown off one bit.

"Is that so? You gonna fight 'em then?"

"That's right," declared the third member of the group, Gantenbainne. "We're going to defeat them for Aizen-sama." The Arrancar with the afro was quite calm, arms crossed and waiting patiently for his opportunity to fight. Cirucci was calm, if a little restless, while Dordonii was right with Gantenbainne, though the sheer joy of the thought of the battle awaiting him was becoming more apparent in his smile. Ulquiorra wasn't all too happy about the prospect of having to deal with more enemies.

"I'm not going to let you do that, Privaron Espadas." Ulquiorra wasted no time in swiping his hand over his face, his horned mask appearing suddenly out of wisps of dark green. Frighteningly heavy reiatsu blasted outwards, crushing downwards onto the shoulders of everyone present. Ichigo and Grimmjow were handling it best, while Ichigo's friends were straining to stay on their feet, and the Privaron Espadas were having difficulty standing up straight, but with nowhere near as much difficulty as the humans present. Ulquiorra let his power subside, easing the burden of the weaker beings present. Grimmjow, in the meantime, was mentally plotting. _Good! He's got his mask out . . . Now for the last step. _

"Hold up, Ulquiorra," Grimmjow suddenly said, taking the ex-Arrancar's attention as the Sexta strolled forward. "I'll make you guys a deal," he yelled, addressing the Privaron, "Distract everyone but that orange-haired shinigami over there. He's mine. As a result, you guys get to have your fight. Deal?" This time it was the Privaron Espadas' turn to be surprised (not that they were the only ones). Ulquiorra turned to Grimmjow, flabbergasted by Grimmjow's sudden actions,

"Grimmjow! What are you—"

"Sorry, Ulquiorra," Grimmjow began, Ulquiorra only staring at him through his mask as the Sexta Espada spoke, "but I'm not letting _anyone _get in between me and my prey!" Before Ulquiorra knew it, Grimmjow had smacked his open palm into Ulquiorra's mask, and Ulquiorra could make out a small cube in between his mask and Grimmjow's palm. _That's — !_

Ulquiorra's mask glowed purple as the cube exploded into multiple bands of energy. A violet light glowed on Ulquiorra's chest where his Hollow hole had once been, while the bands of energy engulfed Ulquiorra himself before constricting and vanishing itself and the ex-Arrancar into nothingness.

* * *

Well, that's the chapter. I'll try to get these chapters out sooner than three entire WEEKS after the last one, but I do this for my own pleasure as well as yours. I'm not gonna rush myself. But I promise: I won't just let this end. Don't you hate it when a story does that? Anyway, please REVIEW. Opinions on characterization, as usual, are important. I don't want to make any of these characters, well, OUT of character; I'm trying to make them act in ways they're supposed to.

So, I expect to hear things from everybody! Reviews make me want to write this more, so... :P


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